Down from canada the wild mallards come in autumn, green heads pointing south. Thousand miles of Mississippi Valley below them. Quite a view from america. More limited, but still a pleasant view, america from a school room window in nebraska. The view of a country, any country is harsh through iron bars. Im joseph wells. I am a lawyer. A flight of birds, some americans in trouble, and a white temple on the hill. This is the story i want to tell you. It is the story of the Supreme Court of the United States. You feel very small when you stand in the entrance of the Supreme Court building in washington. The corinthian columns rise three stories high, made of marble from the quarry of the state of vermont. Inside, gleaming marble from alabama is underfoot and all around you. And polished walls and columns under a covered ceiling. In this room, historic meetings take place. With jurists of other days observing from the mall walls. A staircase of bronze and marble spirals upwards. In the ha
Bader ginsburg who died friday night. She died on the eve of the jewish new year, the first jewish woman on the Supreme Court and a very interesting thing about individuals who die right before the new year. They say they suggest very righteous people die at the very end of the year because they were needed until the very end. Under jewish tradition those who die on the new year holiday, a title given to the righteous and saintly. Certainly Justice Ruth Bader ginsburg was entitled to this honor, being righteous and saintly. At her confirmation hearing she talked about her immigrant experience was her father was a jewish immigrant, her mother was a secondgeneration american, she talked about American Values and then she said what has happened over me could only happen in america and then she spent her entire career protecting those values that make america a great nation it is in the reason people come here in order to reach their full potential. It guided her well in her public service
Achieve, to participate in and contribute to society violates the equal protection clause. 81, massive victory. I thought it was very interesting her points she often made in the dissent. The Supreme Court argued in the 2007 case ledbetter versus Goodyear Tire and rubber company, the majority saitd, you know what . If you have been discriminated against in pay in your job, and you learn about it years later, you can no longer appeal for redress because you had to have come to the court at the moment the discrimination first occurred. Of course, that was a catch22, an impossible situation. If you didnt know about it, you couldnt possibly come to the court. And she addressed this, and she said comprehend she said the majority does not comprehend or is indifferent to the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination. So she called on congress to act to address really this mistaken opinion of the court, and we did in 2009, the first year i came to the senate. And anothe
Landmark cases. Cspans special history series produced in cooperation with the National Constitution center. Exploring the human stories and constitutional dram as behind 12 Historic Supreme Court decisions. As behind 12 Historic Supreme Court decisions. Number 759, earnest miranda Petitioner Versus arizona. We hear arguments from number 18, roe against wade. Quite often in many of our most famous decisions are ones that the court took that were quite unpopular. Lets go through a few cases that illustrate very dramatically and visually what it means to live in a society of 310 Million People who helped stick together because they believe in a rule of law. Good evening and welcome to cspans history series landmark cases. Tonight is number 10 in our 12part series and you will hear about the 1962 tennessee reapportionment case and it was one that earl warren called the most important of his tenure and remember this is the court that wrote brown versus the board of education and well learn
Versus arizona. Number 18, roe versus wade. Quite often in many of our most famous decisions are ones that the court took that were unpopular. Lets go through a few cases that illustrate very dramatically and visually what it means to live in a society of 310 million different people who helped stick together because they believe in a rule of law. Good evening and welcome to cspans landmark cases where weve been learning more about historic cases at the Supreme Court that have affected the court and affected the country. Tonight the 1961 case of mapp v. Ohio, involving dollree mapp. An ohio woman that refused to let the Police Search her house without a warrant a case that involves some back stairs intrigue at the security itself and all this evolved into a case that was one of a series in the warren courts that changed policing in america. We welcome with us this program and hope you have been with us throughout the series as weve been learning so much about the Supreme Court. Let me