Unknown Speaker
Society. Professor post lecture runs for an hour and 15 minutes and followed production by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor
am so pleased that the Supreme Court has or Historical Society is sponsoring this series of lectures on former chief justices. Now I have a special interest, of course, justices, but I think everybody should. And what really pleases me is that the lectures are held in this court room, and especially tonight going to hear about Chief Justice William Howard Taft. I mean, what better for us to hear about Taft, he was the person that thought Supreme Court should have a home of its own, instead of meeting in the basement in that Burt over in the capital that most of you have visited and he thought we had Court and a building of our own. And it had been talked about day but never approved, and Taft as the only person to ever President of the United States and later as Chief Justice, still have some clout politically with the Congress. He persuaded Congress to appropriate money for this building. And Taff did more than that he hired the architect for it, Cass Gilbert, and he was influential in forming the design and getting it carried out. I think we have one of the most wonderful buildings in all country, inspired every single day when I walk in here, and so it is special that we're in this court room that Taft helped make possible to here at this lecture. I think there have been two chief justices who really deep About judicial administration. One was Chief Justice Warren burger ceased. And the other was William Howard Taft. And his staff was first and foremost a judge. He served as president for one term. It's true. But what he really loved was being a judge. He cared about how the courts function, how this court function, he worked with Congress to get more discretion for this court and deciding what cases to take. He did so much that helped improve the system. And you're going to hear from about Chief Justice Taft, from a wonderfully qualified speaker. I do want to say that probably most of you have known one or more members of the TAF family of Ohio. I certainly have had meeting a couple. And they all have politics and their blood. William Howard Taft wasn't the first his grandfather was a judge. His father was a judge. His father was a US Attorney General, I think at one point, so comes from a line of political figures. And his brother was a member of Congress, and the chain goes on still today. Now, you may not hear about Mrs. Taft, but she was a very attractive and I think ambitious moment in her own right. I do think from what I've read that she preferred being first lady of the country, then to being first lady of the court, so to speak as the wife of the chief justice, but we have Mrs. Taft, thank cherry blossoms and Washington DC. And someday maybe I'll tell you that story because the It's interesting in its own right. Tonight we're having as our speaker,
Robert post. Now, I'm particularly pleased that Robert post is the author. He's been on the law faculty at both Hall of the University of California 1983. And he was a law clerk in this very building for our beloved Justice William Brennan, who passed away this summer. So just one of those distinguished people in the Brennan, law clerk family, and so you know, just how special he is. He has written many articles that would take the rest of the night for me to tell you what they all are. But he's an expert on constitutional law and a great many other things that relate to the Supreme Court, one of his most highly acclaimed books that he's published his title constitutional domains, democracy community management, received awards that would extend down both arms where I to list those for you too. And I'm just delighted that we're all going to be tonight to hear Professor post about Chief Justice Taft