Justice Breyer is teaching a National Constitution Center class right now and he's...enjoying himself 
Breyer, on how to foster compromise and effective government: "I am basically optimistic and I don't know if that's justified."
"If you need Republican support, talk to them. 'My friend, what do you think?' Get them talking and they'll eventually say something you agree with."
"The rule of law is: follow it even when it's wrong."
"What about ideology? Are you an Adam Smith acolyte or a Maoist troublemaker?"
It isn't terrible if you have a Supreme Court with different values and different jurisprudential views. "God, life is a mess. Let's not try to do too much too quickly."
"It's a little more complicated than that."
Think of the Warren court and its desire to get the country desegregated. Maybe that's why they didn't take Loving v. Virginia for a while.
On balance, the Court is not about politics. But it's not the case that when someone asks if the Court is political, that the answer is "no, not in any sense whatever".
The purpose of law: try to get the people to live better, together.
"Why is precedent important?" asks Jeff Rosen
Breyer: gotta be careful overturning previous rulings but you have to do it sometimes (Brown v. Board)
Breyer: gotta be careful overturning previous rulings but you have to do it sometimes (Brown v. Board)
Need to guard against the "insidious way of thinking" where justices overrule decisions whenever they can.
"Try to keep a decent character. That's also corny."
"I do some of that fake bike-riding in the afternoon."
I think Breyer just told us he has a Peloton.
I think Breyer just told us he has a Peloton.
I believe Breyer just said he prays the Amidah.
More Camus references now from Breyer. And he knows he's been citing The Plague a lot. "In about 15 talks", he said.
Breyer on Proust: humans beings impose form on things, which is why it matters so much what you see when you're a child.
Breyer: my upbringing ("I remember WW2") shaped who I have become.
Breyer on JL Austin's "How to Do Things With Words" - how to fight for a pragmatic, not a textual, method of statutory interpretation.
Breyer's favorite opinions: Glossip v. Gross dissent (death penalty) and Parents Involved dissent (student assignment policies to racially integrate schools)
Breyer now animatedly dishing on architecture & helping to design the 1st circuit's courthouse
On having colleagues with whom he disagrees: "I've never heard a voice raised in anger. I've never heard people say mean things about each other."
On Justice Ginsburg: "I miss her."
Says he recently he told a clerk, "let's go see what Ruth thinks" before catching himself. "There you are," he said, shaking his head sadly. "There you are."
Says he recently he told a clerk, "let's go see what Ruth thinks" before catching himself. "There you are," he said, shaking his head sadly. "There you are."
Oy the students want to find out how to become a Supreme Court justice.
"I love my clerks. They keep me on my toes."
OK it's been a long week and someone's getting cheeky
And that's a wrap: Tocqueville, compromise, Peloton, pragmatism, optimism, Camus, RBG, rule of law, Proust, courthouse architecture
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