Stephen Breyer - Activist Judges and Judicial Restraint October 9, 2007

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2007/07/07/Justice_Stephen_Breyer_Democracy_and_the_Court

Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer discusses his views on the terms "judicial activism" and "judicial restraint."

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"Democracy and the Court" with Justice Stephen Breyer in conversation with Jeffrey Rosen at the 2007 Aspen Ideas Festival.

Some of the most inspired and provocative thinkers, writers, artists, business people, teachers and other leaders drawn from myriad fields and from across the country and around the world all gathered in a single place - to teach, speak, lead, question, and answer at the 2006 Aspen Ideas Festival. Throughout the week, they all interacted with an audience of thoughtful people who stepped back from their day-to-day routines to delve deeply into a world of ideas, thought, and discussion.

Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice, was born in San Francisco, California, August 15, 1938.

He received an A.B. from Stanford University, a B.A. from Magdalen College, Oxford, and an LL.B. from Harvard Law School. He served as a law clerk to Justice Arthur Goldberg of the Supreme Court of the United States during the 1964 Term, as a Special Assistant to the Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Antitrust, 1965-1967, as an Assistant Special Prosecutor of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force, 1973, as Special Counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, 1974-1975, and as Chief Counsel of the committee, 1979-1980.

He was an Assistant Professor, Professor of Law, and Lecturer at Harvard Law School, 1967-1994, a Professor at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, 1977-1980, and a Visiting Professor at the College of Law, Sydney, Australia and at the University of Rome.

From 1980-1990, he served as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and as its Chief Judge, 1990-1994. He also served as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States, 1990-1994, and of the United States Sentencing Commission, 1985-1989.

President Clinton nominated him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and he took his seat August 3, 1994.