Commentary (Organization of Justice in the Twenty-First Century)

COMMENTARY

SANDRA DAY O'CONNOR*

It is a real pleasure to be here with you and to see this remarkable gathering of representatives of the highest courts of so many countries in this hemisphere. It is a wonderful step that you are taking, and one that I am sure will be helpful to all the participating countries in the future.

Justice Calvete gave a very thoughtful and insightful paper. He is to be commended for his presentation and the thought that went into it. He pointed out for us some of the far-reaching implications of trends that appear certain to affect the administration of justice far into the next century, which is right around the comer. Courts everywhere, not just in this hemisphere, are seeing increased caseloads. They are seeing increased caseloads in large measure because they are seeing increased populations-more people to serve, more cases to decide.

How do we predict what is going to happen in the future? How do we know? And what should we do about it? It seems to me that each country is going to have to make some long-range plans to deal with the problem. It is one thing to recognize it, but we have to plan to deal with it. Justice Calvete pointed to population growth and that is certainly correct. Demographers have a pretty good track record in the United States of plotting prospective changes in population. It is pretty clear in our country that as we go into the next century weare going to have many more senior citizens. People are living longer in our