Souter Decries Lack of Civics Knowledge, Plans to Do Something About it
Justice David H. Souter has in the past avoided the limelight. But in a speech yesterday at Georgetown Law Center decrying Americans’ lack of civic knowledge, the retiring justice demonstrated his speaking prowess.
Souter warned that the republic “can be lost, it is being lost, it is lost, if it is not understood,” the National Law Journal reports. He cited surveys showing about two-thirds of Americans can’t even name the three branches of government, one of the basic lessons he learned as a youth at town hall meetings in Weare, N.H., according to the Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
What is needed, he said, is “the restoration of the self-identity of the American people.”
The National Law Journal says Souter outshone other speakers at the conference, convened by retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to address the need for an independent judiciary. “Souter’s was the most dramatic talk, winning a prolonged standing ovation from several hundred lawyers and judges from around the country,” the legal newspaper says. “O’Connor was visibly moved by Souter’s remarks.”
Souter did not allow broadcast of his speech, however, and “politely declined” interview requests, according to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
The public doesn’t respect the judiciary when there is little basic knowledge about government, Souter asserted. He said he has joined a committee that will revise the civics curriculum for public schools in New Hampshire. “If I can do it, you can do it too,” he said.
