Justice Breyer: Supremely Low Key & Judiciously Cosmopolitan
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THE COMMENTATOR Vol. XL, No. 3 The Student Newspaper of the New York University School of Law October 5, 2005 Justice Breyer: Supremely Low Key & Judiciously Cosmopolitan BY BEN KLEINMAN, JD ’08 Of the estimated 8 million original Breyer usually rewrites at least Science & Martial Law In an informative and enter- cases in the US about 8,000 result twice. When it’s done, he circu- In response to a question taining talk that lacked the fire- in petitions to the Supreme Court lates it to attract joiners. about social science in the courts works of other Supreme Court Jus- each year. Eighty are heard. So a At the next meeting the Breyer said that the material comes tice appearances at NYU, Justice Supreme Court justice has two Chief Justice makes sure to their attention through briefs Stephen Breyer gave several hun- jobs: (1) getting from 8000 to 80 everyone’s joined an opinion or and it’s unlikely that legal out- dred members of the NYU commu- and (2) deciding the 80. written one. A handful of times comes turn on it. “Scalia, Kennedy, nity a tour through his typical day, each year a justice may change I, and others have perhaps a dissertation on the travails of A Justice & His Clerks sides during the consideration in- inadvisably quoted poetry and having judicial theories, and a deli- Quoting Chief Justice Taft, terval. novels.” Further, there are no fixed cately candid assessment of his Breyer indicated the “job of the rules about the legislative facts views and his critics. Supreme Court is to create a uni- used in making statutes and the Physically, Breyer evoked a form rule of federal law in cases Judicial Transparency court has “taken such matters for kindly uncle or grandfather. Mem- that call for it.” It’s rare that a case Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer With a judicial job, “what what they’re worth.” bers of the audience were over- calls for it when there is consen- in those cases Breyer found that you see is what you get”. But head later comparing the Justice sus. One exception Breyer cited is the briefs weren’t repetitive and he that’s not true of the legislature, A question was asked about to PBS’s Fred Rogers. That impres- read every one. His clerks prepare says Breyer. “A statute doesn’t martial law in the context of natu- sion was probably amplified by the a memo on each case which he explain why it says what it says ral disasters, and Breyer doubted introduction, which referred to his After 11 years, then discusses with them. but a good judicial opinion will say that we’d lose all civil liberties in being an Eagle Scout, being a na- For Breyer and his col- why the judge reaches that deci- such a case. We’d still have pro- tional authority on regulation and Breyer is still leagues, the actual hearings are sion. If you look at our drafts, tections. “They might not be the administrative law while at more of an opportunity to commu- you’d see what you see eventu- same, but they’re there.” Harvard, and having been on the junior member. nicate with each other than to learn ally, just [written] worse.” national sentencing commission new items about the case. Continued on page 2 (while helping to create Harvard’s His job during After 11 years, Breyer is still loan forgiveness program). the junior member and will be even conference is to if Roberts is confirmed. So his job The Court’s Impact during conference is to answer the Putting the role of a Supreme answer the door. door if someone knocks. At this Court justice in context, Breyer stage decisions are tentative and described the minimal role that fed- the Guantanamo cases that seem everyone writes down what oth- eral courts and statutes play in to merit a national decision despite ers say in case it’s useful for an everyday life. He remarked that circuit court consensus. But when opinion. The professional attitude “90% or so of the law in the United there is a split in the circuits, the is maintained: Breyer has “never States is not federal law” and that Supreme Court settles it. Why? head a voice raised in anger. Never. outside of federal law is “almost “We are of course brilliant,” Never heard one judge say any- all family law, almost all business quipped Breyer, but it’s more im- thing slighting of another.” law, almost all criminal law...” Fam- portant that someone have the last On the basis of tentative ily law is arguably the most impor- word than that the last word be votes the Chief (or senior justice tant law to many people, and that infallible. in the tentative majority) will as- has nothing to do with the Su- A typical case has 10-12 sign an opinion writer. The minor- preme Court, according to Breyer. briefs, although a recent right to ity side will do the same. When Breyer then moved on to die case had 70 briefs and an affir- assigned an opinion, Breyer’s law what the Supreme Court does do. mative action case had 120. Even clerks prepare a first draft that SLAP Image of the Week by Gillian Burgess Transfer students, he ex- top choice when they originally NYU Welcomes Class of 2008 plained, benefited from the wide applied to law school. breadth of courses available to Also greets large transfer class and Tulane students. second and third year law stu- Help to Tulane BY JACKSON EATON ’07’ New 1Ls Plenty of Transfers dents, without significantly alter- NYU Law offered admis- An emergency medical 7,872 would-be law stu- 68 students transferred ing the nature of the student body. sion to 10 3Ls from Tulane in the technician, a bagpiper, a champi- dents applied to NYU, according from other schools into this year’s “You couldn’t put those aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. onship chess player, a carpenter— to Kleinrock. Though slightly 2L class, an unusually high num- students in a first year curriculum However, because many peer law what do they all have in common? fewer than last year, he attributes ber. Kleinrock indicated that NYU without having a five-section schools similarly relaxed applica- They’re all members of the class the lower number to a growing aims to get about 50-55 2L transfer class,” he said. tion deadlines only two students of 2008. economy. In line with recent years, students. 325 students applied for accepted admission. In an interview, Dean of roughly twenty percent of appli- Kleinrock explained it transfer admission. Although Kleinrock was particu- Admissions Ken Kleinrock spoke cants were given offers, and of was very difficult to predict which some applied because changing larly proud of the speed of the re- to the highlights of this year’s ad- those just under 30% accepted. transfers would accept offers. Last circumstances caused them to sponse of the Law School. Hurri- missions process, from the unusu- Like last year, a few dozen year, a similar number of offers re- look to New York — for instance, cane Katrina made landfall on Au- ally large numbers of transfer stu- students were chosen from the sulted in only 43 admitted trans- a spouse with a new job in the city, gust 29.. By September 2, under the dents to applications from victims wait list. One student was admit- fers. most applied because of the tre- coordination of Vice Dean Clayton of Hurricane Katrina. ted the day before school began. Some students have sus- mendous educational and profes- Gillette, NYU announced its will- For the first time, Duke pected that the school enjoys a sional opportunities that NYU of- ingness to accept law students claimed the rank of the top “feeder lower-sized 1L class for its advan- fers. For many, NYU had been a school” to NYU Law. Bobcat tages in law school rankings, while alumni took second place this year, reaping the tuition dollars of trans- the highest ranking yet of NYU fer students who are not counted undergrads. toward class sizes. Kleinrock dis- Infra pelled this suggestion. This year’s 1L class has “We admitted these num- 46-54 female-male ratio. One-third bers of transfer students well be- Editorials & Letters p. 4 come straight from senior year of fore rankings,” he said. Moreover, college. Almost half have spent 1- he said, even if they did count they Arts and Lesisure p. 6 4 years out of college, while nearly would play a small role in NYU’s a fifth have been out 5 years or ultimate ranking compared to fac- SLAP Season News p. 8 Ken Kleinrock, Assistant Dean more. 14% of 1Ls hold an advanced tors like student LSAT scores and for Admissions degree. GPA. Page 2 The Commentator October 5, 2005 French Judge Details Experiences At Hauser Global Law Lecture BY YAS GAILANI (LL.M) greatness and glory of France aristocratic French accent about not exclusive: he claimed that own elegant metaphor, the The “Transatlantic that Paris purports to project in his life, his career track, his more than a half of the intake at Conseil d’Etat is thus “the only Dialogues” occasional panel the beauty and scale of its experiences as a judge, and his the time he gained admission religious order which is both series has been a highlight of the architecture and planning views on some of the most was comprised of lower level secular and regular.” Global Law School experience so presents a particularly powerful pressing issues in transatlantic civil-servants from ordinary Because, in its decision- far.