The Constitution sets boundaries for governmental bodies and the court, in Breyer’s words, “patrols those boundaries, deciding when an action by a state or federal government falls outside the bounds and lies in forbidden territory.’’
Breyer’s treatise on justice and democracy takes a novel approach. It is at once an attempt to explain the mysteries of the court, including the biggest mystery of all (how we came to accept it as a legitimate arbiter of important philosophies and legislative issues — it wasn’t always the case) and an effort to explain the mechanics of how the court moves and how it should approach its work.
“I suggest that by understanding that its actions have real-world consequences and taking those consequences into account,’’ he argues, “the court can help make the law work more effectively and thereby better achieve the Constitution’s basic objective of creating a workable democratic government.’’
Breyer, a Cambridge resident, has produced a users’ guide to both the Constitution and the Supreme Court, the branch that Alexander Hamilton once believed was “the weakest of the three departments of power.’’ He begins by explaining that the judiciary is not the cloistered preserve of myth and folklore. Indeed, he says, “Judges read the newspaper, they read academic critiques of their decisions, and they read briefs urging them to decide a case one way or the other.’’ Plus, as Mr. Dooley, the century-old purveyor of comic wisdom, told us, the justices follow the election returns.
