The U.S. Supreme Court has gained the respect of citizens over time to interpret the Constitution and the court must continue to preserve that respect, Justice Stephen Breyer said in a Clinton School speech Tuesday.
Breyer compared the controversial decision of Bush v. Gore, which decided the 2000 presidential election, to what happens in other countries when elections are disputed.
“No stones were thrown and there were no riots in the streets,” Breyer said. “We have this really unusual and precious thing here.”
Breyer spoke to a crowd of more than 650 people about his new book, “Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge’s View,” which examines the role of the Court and its authority in American democracy.
In the book and his Tuesday lecture, Breyer discussed past cases that have shaped the history of the Supreme Court, including the 1957 desegregation crisis at Little Rock Central High School.
Breyer also took time Wednesday morning to speak to students from the Clinton School and the UALR Bowen School of Law.
Breyer was appointed to the court by President Clinton in 1994.