Public Support Critical, Breyer Says

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U.S. Supreme Court

Posted Aug 13, 2007, 07:44 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Justice Stephen G. Breyer gave a simple definition of judicial independence when he spoke to the opening assembly of the ABA Annual Meeting Saturday evening.

"Judicial independence is when the least popular person in the community gets the same treatment in court as the most popular,” he explained. Breyer stressed that judges are able to maintain their independence only if they have the support of the American public, the ABA Journal reports. (The ABA has posted video of Breyer's speech.)

The most important aspect of controversial court decisions, said Breyer, is not necessarily their outcomes, "but that people accept them. Not judges or lawyers, but the other 299 million of us."

Breyer has found himself on the losing side in many of the court’s 5-4 decisions this past term. He wrote a 77-page dissent to a majority opinion striking down race-based school assignments.

I had a difficult year," Breyer said before the opening assembly, Legal Times reports. "I was in dissent quite a lot, and I wasn't happy." After thinking it over, "I wish I had won," he said, but it’s "not a bad system."

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