Thursday, May 24, 2007

Riding the Circuits

Early Supreme Court members did it. Here's an argument that they should do it again.

A great point made by Timothy Sandefur:

" . . . one of the biggest reasons the Justices rode circuit was to explain the Constitution and its legal order to regular citizens. In fact, many of the great early Supreme Court pronouncements (like the wonderful Van Horne’s Lessee v. Dorrance are actually not decisions at all, but speeches made by the justices to juries, as part of this civic educational process.) True, the Justices today aren’t exactly John Marshalls or Joseph Storys. But they are the leaders of the legal profession in this country, and it is their duty to explain the constitution and the law to citizens."

Has the court system grown too detached from the citizenry?