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I attended the BYU forum today. I have not been attending the forums and devotionals regularly since I began working off campus, but Chief Justice John Roberts gave the forum address today. I could not miss this unique experience. So I worked from home this morning and headed down to BYU on my bike at around 10:30 AM so I could make it to the forum at 11. I arrived about 10 minutes early, and there were still plenty of seats available in the Marriott Center, even some of the padded seats on the playing floor were still available. I remember sitting on the second row when Margaret Thatcher came to BYU several years ago, but I decided to just sit in the plastic seats about 10 rows up from the playing floor.
I took my seat and the arena slowly filled up until the devotional began at 11:05. Just before the devotional began, Justice Roberts arrived and everybody stood up to honor him. We sang an opening hymn: “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”. After the hymn, President Samuelson welcomed us, a former BYU student gave the opening prayer, and then President Samuelson introduced Justice Roberts.
I attended the BYU forum today. I have not been attending the forums and devotionals regularly since I began working off campus, but Chief Justice John Roberts gave the forum address today. I could not miss this unique experience. So I worked from home this morning and headed down to BYU on my bike at around 10:30 AM so I could make it to the forum at 11. I arrived about 10 minutes early, and there were still plenty of seats available in the Marriott Center, even some of the padded seats on the playing floor were still available. I remember sitting on the second row when Margaret Thatcher came to BYU several years ago, but I decided to just sit in the plastic seats about 10 rows up from the playing floor.
I took my seat and the arena slowly filled up until the devotional began at 11:05. Just before the devotional began, Justice Roberts arrived and everybody stood up to honor him. We sang an opening hymn: “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”. After the hymn, President Samuelson welcomed us, a former BYU student gave the opening prayer, and then President Samuelson introduced Justice Roberts.
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Justice John Roberts (immediately to the right of the flag) sitting before his speech at BYU-
Justice Roberts began his talk by reminding us that President Samuelson had encouraged us to read a book about the constitution earlier in the semester. Then, Justice Roberts challenged us to read some more about the constitution…to read the US Constitution itself. He then covered different aspects of the constitution. He first talked about article one, which explains the powers and rules of the legislative branch. Then, he explained that Article two gives the framework for the executive branch. Finally, he discussed article three (his “favorite part” of the constitution), which defines the judicial branch.
He discussed the importance of the Supreme Court…that an independent judiciary is essential to interpret the constitution and the rule of law. One thing (roughly) he said that impressed me is that the Judiciary neither governs by passion (like the legislative branch) nor by will (like the executive branch), but governs by an impartial interpretation of the law. He also mentioned that, until the 1900’s, the original Supreme Court was located in the basement of the US Capitol. The Supreme Court did not get their own building (the legislative branch had the Capitol Building and the executive branch had the White House, which were the first buildings built in Washington) until the 1930’s. He used this fact to show the relative importance of the Supreme Court during the first years of our country. But then he explained that our constitution and the laws stemming from the legislative branch of government would be meaningless without an independent judiciary. He praised James Madison, the primary framer of the constitution and a president of the United States. He encouraged us to read Madison’s Federalist papers, an important commentary on the ideas outlined in the US Constitution.
He discussed the importance of the Supreme Court…that an independent judiciary is essential to interpret the constitution and the rule of law. One thing (roughly) he said that impressed me is that the Judiciary neither governs by passion (like the legislative branch) nor by will (like the executive branch), but governs by an impartial interpretation of the law. He also mentioned that, until the 1900’s, the original Supreme Court was located in the basement of the US Capitol. The Supreme Court did not get their own building (the legislative branch had the Capitol Building and the executive branch had the White House, which were the first buildings built in Washington) until the 1930’s. He used this fact to show the relative importance of the Supreme Court during the first years of our country. But then he explained that our constitution and the laws stemming from the legislative branch of government would be meaningless without an independent judiciary. He praised James Madison, the primary framer of the constitution and a president of the United States. He encouraged us to read Madison’s Federalist papers, an important commentary on the ideas outlined in the US Constitution.
Justice John Roberts speaking at BYUI remember visiting the Washington DC Capitol building in June with my brother. We were able to walk through the original Supreme Court chamber in the Capitol, and I took a picture. I want to put a picture of that chamber on this page tomorrow. It was one of the few quiet places in the Capitol, and there was a reverent feeling in that original chamber.
His entire talk was informative and impressive. During his talk, Justice Roberts mentioned some of the early pioneers to Utah, including Brigham Young. He also spoke lots about President Rex E. Lee, the former president of BYU and former US Solicitor General who was BYU president for several years after my mission. Sadly, President Lee died of cancer a few years after retiring as president of BYU. Justice Roberts obviously had a great respect and admiration for Rex E. Lee. He shared an interesting story about a case he argued in the Supreme Court for his client against President Lee. Justice Roberts lost this case with a vote of 9-0, he says because “there were only 9 justices in the court” (indicating if there were more, they, too would have voted against him). Everybody enjoyed this humorous story. In the end, I felt like Justice Roberts was a humble man and I really enjoyed his talk. I only wished he would have spoken longer.
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