Justice Speeches

Chief Justice Eric Brown

Buckeye Boys State

June 15, 2010

Governor, Justices of the Supreme Court, elected officials, citizens of Boys State ...

Congratulations to each one of you for being selected to attend Buckeye Boys State. The honor of attending Boys State tells us that you are highly thought of by the citizens and leaders of your community.

For starters, the principal of your high school recommended you—selecting you from hundreds of other students. As a former school board member myself, I know how meaningful it is when a principal recommends a student for a high honor.

Having the respect of your high school tells me that you are more than a good student, more than a good athlete. It tells me you are a leader; you are somebody who understands the importance of service to others.

You are here, of course, to learn about the rights and responsibilities of living in a democracy. There is no greater lesson than the one you will learn from the men and women who organize this program—the veterans of the American Legion.

It is not so much that they will teach you about the balance of power and the Bill of Rights—although those are very important lessons. Rather it's the lesson of their military service, their willingness to go into battle with hearts fired by the pursuit of freedom and liberty, the desire to defend a country where men and women—not kings and queens—determine the direction of a nation.

When you talk this week about the constitution, remember it was a veteran who fought for the indelible strength of our constitutional democracy.

When you talk this week about the responsibility of the majority to respect the rights of the minority, remember it was a veteran who fought for those rights.

When you talk about freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the right to vote, remember it was a veteran who paid the price of freedom.

Look around you this evening. You see the veterans of the fight against tyranny, the fight against hatred and oppression. Of particular significance to me and my family, you see the veterans who fought to end the extermination of the Jewish people.

Today as American service men and women are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, let us remember veterans for wars past and present. Please rise and show your appreciation for the members of the American Legion.

Let us also remember this evening a friend of Buckeye Boys State—a life-long friend, Chief Justice Thomas Moyer. Tom had this swearing-in ceremony marked on his calendar long before he passed away in April.

In all his time in office, he only missed this event once and it was due to delays at National Airport in Washington, DC. I don't think he ever forgave that pilot.

He first attended Boys State as a student at Sandusky High School—an experience that never left him as he served a progression of public service positions, first as President of the Columbus School Board and culminating in 23 years as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio.

Chief Justice Moyer believed in service to country and state. He believed in service to others. Buckeye Boys State lost a friend and supporter with the passing of Chief Justice Moyer. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts.

Buckeye Boys State is a hands-on experience giving you practical knowledge of campaigns and elections, about the legislative process, the balance of power and what it means to live under a constitution that sets forth the rule of law and the rule of man.

This experience will be rich and rewarding.

It could set you on a path to political office—perhaps service as a county commissioner, school board member, maybe governor or US Senator.

You will also gain knowledge that might not be as easily defined as how to draft legislation or write a letter to the editor.

Whether you are an office holder or a citizen, a democracy such as ours requires knowledge of civility and respect, it requires a fundamental understanding that majority rule does not equal absolute authority.

Any discussion about government and public services comes back to the fundamental question of how men and women—citizens of mixed and varied backgrounds, various religions and skin colors—are able to make decisions about the direction of their society. To make decisions about one another.

At the founding of our nation, self-government was an unrealized dream. Kings and queens ruled with an iron will or sometimes with a benevolent hand, but a self-ruling republic was not realized until James Madison put quill to paper in the summer of 1787.

The French political observer Alexis de Tocqueville called it "the great experiment in democracy."

One of the first tests of majority rule came in the presidential election of 1800 when, for first time in our nation's very short history, control of government was transferred from one political party to another.

Emotions ran so deep that out-going president John Adams left town without attending the inaugural ceremony of Thomas Jefferson.

President Jefferson instinctively realized that if the young republic was to survive, he needed to heal the wounds of the political battle and restore faith in our system of government. He had to tell the nation that our system of government is "the world's best hope."

President Jefferson's first inaugural address is noted in our history books for his unifying mantra "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists."

Yes, it was a clarion call for harmony, but his address was also a clear statement of the need for respect for the unpopular, for those with whom we disagree and to "unite in common efforts for the common good."

Here are Jefferson's words:

"... bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression."

Our founding fathers, fearing the tyranny of the majority, drafted and ratified the Bill of Rights—the first 10 amendments to the constitution—with the express purpose of placing a check on the power of government. Without it, the constitution would only be a blueprint for government.

The Bill of Rights sets forth our individual rights—the right to speak what is on our mind, to worship in a way we see fit, and to be free of unwarranted persecution. It gives us the protections to be unpopular and it gives the judiciary a check on government authority.

So fundamental to our system of government, the Bill of Rights continues to be the focal point of the great controversies of the 21^st century.

Justice Robert Jackson, who was appointed to the US Supreme Court by President Franklin Roosevelt, had a fundamental appreciation of the Bill of Rights.

Let me read from his opinion in the case of West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, a case from 1943. He said:

"The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections."

In my opinion as a lawyer, as Chief Justice and as a citizen of our great nation, the Bill of Rights should be the lamplight for your lessons in government. It has illuminated the debates of our nation for more than 200 years and will do so for centuries to come.

The Bill of Rights was the guiding light that led Freedom Marchers in Selma and Montgomery.

The Bill of Rights gave Susan B. Anthony the will to argue that our nation will thrive and prosper when every women is given the right to vote.

The Bill of Rights shapes the outcome of great debates today.

And the Bill of Rights guided the veterans who are here with you today. It was their map at Normandy, and their courage at Iwo Jima.

May the Bill of Rights also guide you during your discussions here at Boys State and as you move forward to college and in your professional careers.

Thank you.