Nixon White House Tapes — Conversation 281-066
Date: Thursday, October 21, 1971 at 6:45 PM
Participants: Nixon, Richard M. (President)
Recording device: Old Executive Office Building
Source: https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/281-066

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Do not cite it as authoritative.

[4:58:02] Our most important appointments, by far the most important appointments he makes, are to the Supreme Court of the United States.
[4:58:16] Presidents come and presidents go, but the Supreme Court, through its decisions, goes on forever.
[4:58:25] Because they all make decisions which will affect your lives, the lives of your children for generations to come.
[4:58:31] I would like to share with you my reasons for selecting the two individuals whose names I will send to the Senate tomorrow for confirmation as members of the Supreme Court of the United States.
[4:58:41] For the past month, I have received thousands of letters from all over the United States.
[4:58:51] Yeah.
[4:58:52] Yeah.
[4:58:52] Thank you.
[4:58:55] recommending scores of able men and women for appointment for the two vacancies in the court.
[4:59:00] Because one of the vacancies is that left by the retired and dead Mr. Justice Black, former United States Senator, there's been strong support for the appointment of a member of the House Senate, so that the point of view of the Congress would be adequately represented in the court.
[4:59:15] A great number of letters have recommended the appointment of a woman since no woman has ever been named in the Supreme Court.
[4:59:21] A number of others are recommended to be appointed representatives of religious, racial, and nationality groups not presently represented on the Court.
[4:59:29] I believe that the Supreme Court should, in the broadest sense, be representative of the entire nation.
[4:59:34] But when only nine seats are filled, obviously every group in the country cannot be represented on the Court.
[4:59:42] These are the criteria I believe should be adopted in the name of the people of the Supreme Court.
[4:59:45] The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in this country.
[4:59:51] Its members, therefore, should be among the very best.
[5:00:14] Second consideration is the judicial philosophy of those who are serving the court.
[5:00:18] I emphasize the word judicial because whether an individual is a Democrat or a Republican cannot and should not be a policy factor in determining whether he should be appointed to the court.
[5:00:30] By judicial philosophy, I do not mean agreeing with the President in every issue.
[5:00:34] It would be a total repudiation of our constitutional system and judges in the Supreme Court, or any federal court for that matter, were I published on the strength of oath by the President to appoint me.
[5:00:43] When I appointed Chief Justice Berger, I told him that from the day he was confined to the courtroom, he should expect that I would never talk to him about a case of predicate before the courtroom.
[5:00:53] The case of both Chief Justice Berger and Mr. Justice Black, and the case of the two nominees that will be shunted to the Senate tomorrow, their sole obligation is to the Constitution and to the American people, not, not to the Earth.
[5:01:07] That's fine.
[5:01:09] For our judicial philosophy is concerned, it is my belief that the duty of a judge to interpret a Constitution is not to place itself above another Constitution or outside of a Constitution.
[5:01:17] He should not twist or bend a Constitution in order to promulgate his personal, political, or social views.
[5:01:23] This does not mean that judges who adhere to their philosophy will find that they always agree to the interpretation of a Constitution.
[5:01:32] We have an actual attack with us in the direction of the Duke of Vegas.
[5:01:34] I know I have a duty to fulfill.
[5:01:37] Mr. Justice Black and Mr. Justice Harlan.
[5:01:45] Last night, uh, the, uh...
[5:01:49] They deliberately turned the lights down some to get a better picture, and this time I want the lights up regardless.
[5:01:56] I'm not concerned about the picture content this time.
[5:01:59] In our meeting, I want him to know, in other words, to put all that under light.
[5:02:08] Okay?
[5:02:15] If you've got an actual example of this, directly to judges and things, these are now having to do with Mr. Justice Black and Mr. Justice Harlan.
[5:02:22] When they retire from the court, most of the jurors have labeled Mr. Justice Black as a liberal and Mr. Justice Harlan as a conservative.
[5:02:29] I would say that both were constitutionalists.
[5:02:33] There was a major truth in that.
[5:02:40] It may be charged that they are conservatives.
[5:02:45] This is true.
[5:03:12] Put it into additional.
[5:03:13] Put it into additional, not a full bill.
[5:03:18] During my campaign for the presidency, I pledged to nominate three or four individuals who shared my judicial philosophy, which is basically a conservative philosophy.
[5:03:25] Let me give an example of what that philosophy means.