The Hindu : Front Page : “No rift between legislature and judiciary in U.S.”

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Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007
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“No rift between legislature and judiciary in U.S.”

Legal Correspondent

There is no criticism of judges for judicial activism, says Justice Breyer

“U.S. legislature can amend Constitution to over-rule verdict”
Lauds alternative dispute resolution mechanism of Indian courts

New Delhi: There has been no major rift between the judiciary and the legislature in the United States though the apex court had struck down some laws as unconstitutional, Stephen G. Breyer, judge of the U.S. Supreme Court, said here on Tuesday.

Mr. Justice Breyer, in an interaction with select journalists, said the Supreme Court judges judges were appointed for life and no one criticised them for judicial activism.

The former Attorney-General, Soli Sorabjee, and the Minister-Counsellor for Public Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Larry Schwartz, participated in the discussions.

Mr. Justice Breyer said the U.S. legislature had powers to amend the Constitution to over-rule a Supreme Court judgment but such an amendment required a two-thirds majority in Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the States. In the last 200 years, the Constitution was amended only 27 times.

Asked whether the U.S. courts entertained public interest litigations, he said the rigorous rule of “concrete injury” (a person who is directly affected) was being followed in such petitions and invariably an amicus curiae would be appointed to assist the court whenever such a petition was entertained.

Mr. Justice Breyer is visiting India at the invitation of the Supreme Court. He addressed the Judges of the Supreme Court in Bhopal on Monday. He is actively engaged in the Indo-U.S. Supreme Court legal exchange programme that began in 1995. The exchanges established regular dialogue between the Supreme Courts on topics that have mutual and comparative law, particularly the timely resolution of civil and criminal cases.

On corruption in judiciary, he said: “We have no problem of dishonest judges. Our pay is not great, but adequate. It would be terrible and shame if someone is being caught, people depend on you. They depend on you for honest effort. A judge is a high official and has a face and if you solve someone’s problem it is satisfying.” Asked about death penalty, he said, “It is not unconstitutional per se. Never the court in the United States said it is unconstitutional. There has been opposition to capital punishment by human rights groups in many countries, but it is for the legislature to decide whether to abolish death penalty or not.”

Mr. Justice Breyer praised the mechanism of Alternative Dispute Resolution adopted by courts in India, particularly mediation centres like in Ahmedabad. Asked by Mr. Sorabjee about the decided cases that gave him sleepless nights, he said the election dispute surrounding President George Bush and Al Gore was one such and the other pertained to affirmative action whether concession could be given on racial consideration for university admission.

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