Next, from the Ronald Reagan president ial foundation and institute, six former law clerks recall working with Supreme Court Justice Sandra day oconnor. This is part of an allday conference commemorating the 38th anniversary of Justice Oconnors senate confirmation. [ applause ] thank you. Its really an honor and a privilege to be here. So, i was asked just to say a few words to introduce the next panel. And i think i would start by saying something that probably we all know, which is the court is a fairly powerful institution. Now, of course, it wasnt always so, though. One of the signs of how powerful it is is that you really do see in any president ial election people saying it matters who you vote for. You should vote for x rather than y because theyre going to pick the next Supreme Court justices. But if you think about why that really is so, the Court Decides about 80 cases a year. And about 75 of them need to be decided, but theyre not the reason the court is such a powerful inst
Really is so, the Court Decides about 80 cases a year. But and about 75 of them need to be decided but theyre not the reason the court is such a powerful institution and not the reason people say that about who you should vote for in the president ial election. In any given term theres typically five or six cases really the reason we care about the court. And those are the cases that have truly Significant Impact on our politics, on our society, on our government. There are also, though, typically cases, the reason theyre so hard and part of the reason that makes them so important is the law runs out before you get to the decision. So how do we justify giving so much power to what amounts to a kind of monarchal institution in cases like that . And its not actually so easy to do if you think about it. But one of the ways we do it is by who we appoint. Who we give that kind of power to. So we look ideally for people who have experience in politics, who have been in a position where theyv
Iran looks to relax its lock down some fairly our break there may be far worse than reported. And a critically ill patient turned away from 6 hospitals a bag with its fears grow over an escalating outbreak. Now have all the schools including us the president dana white says that hes close to securing a private island to make sure he can keep staging events to the core of our spending but. We begin in the u. K. Where foreign secretary dominic robb is stepping in to lead the government thats after Prime Minister baraks johnson was moved to intensive care in london he was transferred to hospital after his covert 900 symptoms got worse on monday night the father with this report. This is where the most powerful man in britain is under close observation every branch of government was already under strain and now this downing street say the Prime Minister who is 55 was moved to the intensive care unit on the advice of his medical team hes been given oxygen but hasnt been put on a ventilator
Class action and he has litigated and defended countless class actions including over 20 dismissals of less action cases. They may have a sense of what his position is on that. Is a graduate of georgetown undergraduate and University Virginia law school where he was and is also the author of the chapter in the Popular Series on claims. So please welcome christopher. [applause]. And her next panelist is a professor himself wrote this book and he is a graduate of merchant notre dame where he was the runnerup valedictorian but he made up for he went to Harvard Law School and he was the top student to graduate in his class. It is a lot easier. And he has been a lawyer and a professor. It is currently at vanderbilt. And we will hear more from him and just a bit. Our moderator today is judge on the ninth circuit, is a graduate of weltys a korean immigrants who came to this country and graduated from a Blake Cornell and also Harvard Law School. Classmates. Any worked at and was associate whit
Host we get to talk about the Supreme Court history for an hour. I want to start by understanding the court today. The way our court is structured and how it has evolved, how does the chief justice in this era wield authority . What tools do they have . Elizabeth the answer to that question is, in this era, as always, the chief justice, first and foremost, is the head and steward of one of our three ranches of government. I think there are some unique spects about that job in the sense that the court is not a political branch. It was deliberately designed not to be. The chief has a difficult job, because, im sure you heard this expression. The chief is chief among equals. They cannot control the other justices. They have the power to cajole, but not control. And there are some Great Stories throughout history that illustrate that very well. Host specifically, does the chief have a role in what cases are heard, and who writes the opinions . Elizabeth those are probably two of the princi