Making Our Democracy Work (42 page)

14.
Id
. at 487 (Kennedy, J., concurring).

15.
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
, 542 U.S. 507, 510 (2004).

16.
Id
. at 511–13.

17.
Id
. at 513–14.

18.
Id
. at 525.

19.
Id
. at 516–21.

20.
Id
. at 545–52 (Souter, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part);
id
. at 573 (Scalia, J., dissenting).

21.
Id
. at 531 (plurality opinion);
id
. at 529 (citations omitted);
id
. at 532.

22.
Id
. at 531, 535–36.

23.
Id
. at 535.

24.
Id
. at 529 (citing
Mathews v. Eldridge
, 424 U.S. 319 [1976]);
id
. at 535;
id
. at 533 (emphasis added).

25.
Id
. at 533–34 and n. 2 (emphasis added).

26.
Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, 119 Stat. 2739; Paul Wolfowitz (Deputy Secretary
of Defense) to the Secretary of the Navy, memorandum, Re: Order Establishing Combatant Status Review Tribunals, July 7, 2004,
www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2004/d20040707review.pdf
.

27.
Military Order of November 13, 2001: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism, 66 Fed. Reg. 57,833;
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
, 548 U.S. 557, 568 (2006).

28.
Hamdan
, 548 U.S. at 569–70.

29.
Id
. at 635;
id
. at 588 (quoting
Ex parte Quirin
, 317 U.S. 1, 19 [1942]).

30.
Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), art. 21, 10 U.S.C. § 821 (emphasis added).

31.
Hamdan
, 548 U.S. at 595–97;
id
. at 612.

32.
UCMJ, art. 36, 10 U.S.C. § 836;
Hamdan
, 548 U.S. at 623;
id
. at 633–35, 639–41 (Breyer, J., concurring).

33.
Hamdan
, 548 U.S. at 636.

34.
Military Commissions Act, 28 U.S.C. §2241(e) (Supp. 2007).

35.
Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 § 1005(e), 119 Stat. 2739.

36.
Boumediene v. Bush
, 128 S. Ct. 2229 (2008).

37.
U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 2.

38.
Boumediene
, 128 S. Ct. at 2259.

39.
Id
. at 2244–47; 4 William Blackstone,
Commentaries
438.

40.
Boumediene
, 128 S. Ct. at 2251 (quoting
Reid v. Covert
, 354 U.S. 1, 64 [1957] [Frankfurter, J., concurring in result]).

41.
Id
. at 2255 (quoting
Reid
, 354 U.S. at 74–75 [Harlan, J., concurring in result]);
id
. at 2261.

42.
Id
. at 2271–74.

43.
See Adam Liptak,
Judge Orders 17 Detainees at Guantánamo Freed
, New York Times, Oct. 21, 2009, at A14.

44.
Linda Greenhouse,
Justices, 5–4, Back Detainee Appeals for Guantánamo
, New York Times, June 13, 2008, at A1.

1.
Federalist 78 (Alexander Hamilton).

2.
Thomas Jefferson,
A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge
, in
Jefferson: Political Writings
235 (Joyce Appleby & Terence Ball eds., 1999).

3.
David Souter,
Remarks on Civic Education
(ABA Opening Assembly, Aug. 1, 2009),
www.abanet.org/publiced/JusticeSouterChallengesABA.pdf
.

4.
See Stephen Breyer,
Serving America’s Best Interests
, Daedalus (Fall 2008), at 139; Sandra Day O’Connor, Op-Ed,
The Threat to Judicial Independence
, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 1, 2006 (discussing the JAIL 4 Judges ballot initiative).

5.
David Souter,
Striking the Balance: Fair and Independent Courts in a New Era
(Luncheon Remarks, May 20, 2009); Sandra Day O’Connor,
Education: A Big Idea in Today’s America
(Remarks at the Seattle Public Library Town Hall, Sept. 14, 2009); Breyer,
supra
note 4, at 139.

1.
See Thomas Jefferson to the New Haven Merchants (July 12, 1801), in 34
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson
554, 556 (Barbara B. Oberg et al. eds., 2007) (“how are vacancies to be obtained? those by death are few. by resignation none”). Although in this letter Jefferson was referring to holders of public office generally, his remarks have widely been remembered as relating to Supreme Court justices. For biographies of the current members of the Court, see
www.supremecourtus.gov/about/biographiescurrent.pdf
.

2.
28 U.S.C. § 1257 allows the Supreme Court to review state court decisions that raise a question of federal law and are “rendered by the highest court of a State in which a decision could be had.” Other statutory provisions provide for review of federal court rulings. For statistics on the caseloads of federal and state courts, see Robert C. LaFountain et al., National Center for State Courts,
Examining the Work of State Courts
(2007); and Statistics Division, Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts,
2008 Annual Report of the Director: Judicial Business of the United States Courts
(2009).

3.
Article V of the Constitution sets out the procedures by which the Constitution may be amended.

4.
Brown v. Allen
, 344 U.S. 443, 540 (1953) (Jackson, J., concurring in judgment).

5.
See, e.g., William Howard Taft,
Three Needed Steps of Progress
, 8 A.B.A. J. 34, 35 (1922) (“The use of the Supreme Court is merely to maintain uniformity of decision for the various courts of appeal”). Supreme Court Rule 10 lists the most important factors that the Court considers when deciding whether to hear a case.

6.
Cf. Arlington Central School District Board of Education v. Murphy
, 548 U.S. 291 (2006) (holding that the word “costs” in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act does not include expert witness fees);
Arizona v. Gant
, 129 S. Ct. 1710 (2009) (holding unconstitutional the police search of a vehicle after the driver’s arrest).

S
TEPHEN
B
REYER
is an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. He is a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C.