Having already welcomed Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg (z”l) and Elena Kagan and Chief Justice John Roberts, The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Cultural Center is honored that former Associate Justice Stephen Breyer will now join us upon the publication of his new book, Reading the Constitution, his first appearance since his retirement from the US Supreme Court in June 2022.
This important volume provides a clear reminder that the textualist philosophy of the current Supreme Court’s supermajority is a dramatic break from the long tradition of interpreting the Constitution by examining the purposes of the original statutes and the consequences of ignoring current social mores.
He joins us to discuss the importance of treating the Constitution as a workable set of principles, illustrating his point by examining some of the most important cases in the nation’s history, among them the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade (2022) and the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen decision striking down some of New York’s gun control laws (2022).