April 8, 2008 | Hunter College
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor came to Hunter on April 7 for an extraordinary “Aspen at Roosevelt House” discussion about the delicate balance of constitutional power between U.S. presidents and the nation’s highest court.
Justices Breyer and O’Connor talked about the tension that has existed between the Supreme Court and the White House from the early days of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, through Lincoln, FDR, Truman, Nixon and right up until today — with controversial rulings on the Bush-Gore 2000 election and the rights of accused terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay.
They emphasized the unique constitutional responsibility of the top court to provide a balance of power with a president- as well as some of the practical problems the court faces.
“When we make a decision, it is not just a decision for the date and time when it comes down,” Breyer said, pointing out that no justice can predict future developments which could be affected by that ruling. “But when the Court decides something, who does it then? What happens when you get a case where the president doesn’t want to do it?”
“The Court has serious problems with enforcement power,” agreed O’Connor, the first woman ever appointed to the Supreme Court – who retired in 2006. “We hope that when the court rules that other branches go along to take the hit. For the most part they do, but on occasion they don’t.”
The discussion — one of a series of high profile political events leading up to the opening of a renovated Roosevelt House as Hunter’s new public policy center this fall — was moderated by Pulitzer-Prize winning New York Times correspondent Linda Greenhouse, who has covered the Supreme Court for the Times since 1978. The event was endowed by Hunter alumna Phyllis L. Kossoff.