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20 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 751 (1986)
Constitutional Law and Public Opinion

handle is hein.journals/sufflr20 and id is 781 raw text is: SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW Volume XX Winter 1986 Number 4 CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND PUBLIC OPINION William H. Rehnquist* A few weeks ago when I was meeting with a group of people visiting the Supreme Court one of them asked me, Do judges respond to public opinion? I am always glad afterwards that these sessions are not taped or recorded, because I do not think my off-the-cuff answers to questions like this are very profound or even always accurate. I don't remember what I said to the gentleman who asked this question, but I have since given some thought to the matter and I think it is worth some serious discussion. Surely we can begin by putting to one side the sort of public opinion to which no judges ought to respond. A judge is conducting a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is probable cause to hold for trial one accused of a particularly brutal and heinous crime. Newspapers and other barometers of public opinion make it perfectly clear that someone is obviously guilty of this crime and ought to be tried for it, and that this particular accused is the best suspect in view at the moment. Should a judge be influenced by this sort of public opinion? Obviously not. Since Chief Justice Mar- shall, sitting as a circuit judge in Richmond one hundred and eighty years ago, refused to hold Aaron Burr answerable to charges that Marshall did not believe showed probable cause, judges of all makes and models have felt compelled to hold the balance true in this situation.' They are to act on the evidence placed before them, and to evaluate it according to established legal standards. If this process results in setting the accused free, so be it. * Chief Justice, United States Supreme Court. This article is based on the Eighteenth Donahue Lecture delivered at Suffolk University Law School on April 10, 1986. 1. See United States v. Burr, 25 F. Cas. 1, 27, 202-07 (C.C.D. Ky. 1807) (Nos. 14,692a, 14,692c, 14,694a) (discussing elements necessary for guilty verdict).

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