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Breyer Urges Judges to Engage the Public

By Robert J. Ambrogi

Standing before a Boston ballroom packed with hundreds of judges and lawyers, Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer last night urged them to continue their efforts to educate the public about the role of the judiciary and to engage them in the judicial process. "We have to explain why this institution is worth supporting," he told them. Breyer was the keynote speaker at a dinner commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Massachusetts Superior Court, one of the oldest trial courts of general jurisdiction in the country. The dinner capped a day-long symposium that explored both the history and the future of the court. More notably, the court used the occasion of its anniversary to stage a series of educational events throughout the year aimed at enhancing public understanding of the courts. Among the most talked-about of these are re-enactments of famous trials, such as one scheduled this week that will recreate the 1893 trial of Lizzie Borden. Breyer praised trial judges as "the people who face the people." But he expressed concern that the general public fails to understand the impartiality of judges and the importance of judicial independence. "Judicial independence means something to a judge. But to someone who...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on September 23, 2009 (boomark / email).