Narrator: America.gov presents our conversation with retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Justice O'Connor is the first woman ever to serve on the nation's highest court. The United States owes its success as a nation and a society to its constitution, the document that guarantees the freedom and rights of every American citizen. Today, Justice O'Connor gives us her views on current issues and helps us understand the importance of the American judicial system. A good demonstration of the trust that Americans have in the rule of law is their confidence in the U.S. legal system. Every day in America, courts throughout the country render decisions that affect many people. Courts are a central part of the legal system, but they are not the entire system. Millions of Americans depend on legal services to manage their day-to-day affairs without interacting directly with the courts. They, too, rely upon the legal system. Citizens who want to buy a home, start a business or provide security for their children all require the predictable, common norms that the rule of law provides and the U.S. legal system guarantees.
Justice O'Connor: The notion of the rule of law is basically a very good notion. It's all about how you achieve justice and fairness in the nation's governmental structure. I've been a great proponent of the notion of the rule of law as we've gone around the world and as we've been able to see new nation states develop elsewhere in the world. Narrator: The United States started as a small country. At its founding, America adopted a new form of government that was untested, and a complete change from the accepted practices of government at that time. But the country prospered. It has had its share of challenges and setbacks, but the country's sense of justice, rooted in the wisdom of a written constitution, have remained unchanged. America owes its development success to its legal and judicial system as much as any other factor.
Justice O'Connor: When this country decided to try to break away from the British Empire and set up its own country, the decision was made early on to try to draft a constitution for the United States. Narrator: The U.S. Constitution is one the most enduring documents in all of history. It was written at a time when political power was exercised exclusively by kings and the aristocracy. The thought that a nation's power could come from the people through a system of government designed specifically for that purpose was truly revolutionary. Justice O'Connor: And we had some colonies in those days that later became states — we had 13 of them and the problem was how to meld together the colonies, each of which had features of independence — into one functioning national unit. Narrator: In the late 1700s, America was not united. The 13 separate colonies, each with their own laws and governments, disagreed on many, many issues. But they all realized one important point — unless they cooperated with each other for mutual benefit and protection, the new United States, at the time a weak and vulnerable country, would not survive.
Justice O'Connor: The states had had a kind of agreement under which they operated for a brief period of time, but it was not satisfactory and the framers decided to try to do a better job. They all got together in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and they closed the doors, they didn't admit any press, any visitors, and they all tried to come up with the fundamental rules for our new form of government in the United States. Narrator: Over 200 years, after being changed, or amended, 27 times, the U.S. Constitution remains the supreme law of the land. The document was created to act as a framework for making laws — which means that it sets out the broad principles — the values and spirit of the nation, and the rights of citizens. Those principles — written in clear, simple language — are the standard upon which all U.S. laws are based.
Justice O'Connor: Our whole constitution can be reprinted in a little pamphlet that fits right in your pocket or your purse. I carry one with me always — and it's fabulous. Almost every country in the world has some kind of fundamental document, a constitution, if you will.
Narrator: A crucial part of any written constitution is the guarantee of citizens' rights. In America, this is called the Bill of Rights. During the American Revolution, each state had adopted its own constitution. Most of them included a clear declaration of the rights of all people. Most Americans believed that no constitution could be considered complete without such a declaration, and many state leaders might have prevented ratification of the U.S. Constitution if their demands for a Bill or Rights were not met.
It is in the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution that the most basic American freedoms are guaranteed — like the freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. Americans sometimes feel dissatisfied with the policies and practices of those who govern. But in fact, American citizens are ultimately responsible for protecting their own rights.
Justice O'Connor: And we need education, we need the citizens to be educated so they can do their part when there are elections. You need citizens who understand the role of each branch of government because young people don't inherit the concepts through the gene pool, every generation has to learn it. And that's true around the world — you need education, first and foremost about the system of government and how the citizens can play a role in it and I think this is of critical importance in every country, including my own. Narrator: The founders of the new American government in 1789 were above all guided by a desire to ensure freedom for their citizens. They also knew that as a small, vulnerable and weak nation, they must cooperate to survive. The Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia was convened to solve these matters through a never-before-seen system of government.
Justice O'Connor: And what the framers came up with was a structure of a national government that could encompass within it the separate individual colonies, later states. And the framers wanted to provide each state with primary responsibility for health and welfare legislation. Bu they wanted national government with certain national powers, primarily to regulate commerce.
Narrator: Some of the very first institutions of the American government dealt with practical economic matters such as the printing of money, regulation of international commerce and the collection of import duties. The participating states had to agree to give some of their powers to the new national government. Many were skeptical, and demanded a government whose power could be restrained.
Justice O'Connor: And I thought the best thing the framers did was to set up three separate braches of government. An executive branch headed by the President of the United States; a legislative branch consisting of the Congress; and a judicial branch. That was also very important.
Narrator: The U.S. Constitution can be described as a framework document. It does not try to address the many details of governing a nation. Instead it establishes principles that laws and regulations must follow. The entire system also uses the traditional legal principles found in English common law, so the courts continue to apply unwritten common law principles to fill in the gaps where the Constitution is silent. But as Justice O'Connor explains, each branch is subject to a variety of checks on its power by the other two branches. Justice O'Connor: The executive makes appointments to the different federal offices and also must nominate justices and federal judges and all other federal officers under the Constitution. The Congress is the branch that passes the laws and it controls the budget; it controls how money the President will have, how much money the courts will have. And then the judicial branch has the power to interpret the laws passed by Congress — what do they mean, if there's a conflict? And secondly, to enforce the provisions of the Constitution, which might mean saying that some action taken by one of the other two branches is not constitutional.
Narrator: The framers of the American constitution demanded that one of the basic principles of a new government be that no one branch should gain too much power. The delicate balance of the American government is by many considered the single greatest achievement of the Constitution.
Justice O'Connor: The creation of the three separate branches of government — executive, legislative, judicial — each with some power over the other two, was the genius of the Constitution. And it was an amazing development. It's worked pretty well — for over 200 years.
