"Throughout American history, the Supreme Court, often derided as the least democratic branch of the federal government, has, paradoxically, best maintained its legitimacy when it has functioned as the most democratic branch—that is, when it has deferred to the constitutional views of Congress, the president, and the country as a whole. For all the invective initially generated by Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed school segregation, the decision was supported by more than half of the country when it was handed down in 1954, a time when southern minorities were blocking Congress from enacting the civil-rights legislation that the public supported. Many of the most famous decisions by the Warren, Burger, and Rehnquist Courts similarly reflected the popular will: a survey of eighty-eight civil-rights and civil-liberties cases between 1953 and 1994 found that, in most instances, the Supreme Court was generally in sync with public opinion. When public opinion opposed a particular rights claim, so, by and large, did the Supreme Court."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Jeffrey Rosen. "The Day After Roe". The Atlantic. (June 2006).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Supreme Court of the United States
43 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Supreme Court of the United States →
Related Quotes
"I had never before argued a Supreme Court case on my own. Since arguments in that court are thirty minutes in length …"
"In my conception of it, the primary role of the Court is to decide cases. From the decision of cases, of course, some…"
"The first opinion the Court ever filed has a dissenting opinion. Dissent is a tradition of this Court... When someone…"
"The Court's great power is its ability to educate, to provide moral leadership."
"Nine, nine... There have been nine men there for a long, long time, right? So why not nine women?"
""At the Supreme Court, those who know don’t talk, and those who talk don’t know,” Ginsburg was fond of saying."
"This Court is forever adding new stories to the temples of constitutional law, and the temples have a way of collapsi…"
"Civil liberties had their origin and must find their ultimate guaranty in the faith of the people. If that faith shou…"
"The court is the least abstract of institutions. It is nine men, nine very human men, participating in a process that…"
"Why would we cut off the national debate about this next justice? Why would we squelch the voice of the people? Why w…"