Timeless Stories from the Library of Congress. ISSN 2836-9459
Share & Subscribe to this blog
- Home, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the Library: “Respect the law”
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the Library: “Respect the law”
March 20, 2026, Posted by: Maria Peña
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett argued last week that preserving the Constitution depends not only on the courts but also on American citizens, urging them to maintain a culture of respect for the rule of law.
“Respect for the law, reverence for the Constitution, really begins with American citizens. It’s really more of a trickle up than a trickle down,” Barrett said during a lecture on March 12 to a packed audience in the Coolidge Auditorium.
Barrett delivered her remarks as part of the 2026 Supreme Court Fellows Program Lecture, an annual event hosted by the Law Library that brings together legal scholars, judges, law students, early career attorneys and the broader Library community to discuss the judiciary’s role.
Supreme Court justices generally decline interview requests, take no questions from an audience and avoid commenting on pending cases, legislation or current political controversies.
However, in a wide-ranging conversation with Judge Robert M. Dow Jr., counselor to Chief Justice John Roberts and executive director of the fellows program, Barrett offered her thoughts on collegiality among judges, why the Constitution endures and civic responsibility, among other topics.
Barrett said that maintaining collegial relationships among the nine justices is critical to the court’s work, even when members come out on opposing sides of a ruling.
“Collegiality is an act of will,” said Barrett. “You have to decide it and try. I think in any human relationship, it’s a big mistake to let emotion be your guide all the time.”
In that sense, judges keep a tradition of going to lunch together after oral arguments or the day after a difficult conference vote as a way to strengthen their bond beyond the courtroom.
Losing a case may be disappointing, “but if you’re going to really make an effort and make a decision to be collegial and to cultivate a relationship with your colleagues … you will go and spend that time with them at lunch,” Barrett said.
“You really have to decide how you want to treat people … and then you have to follow through on the commitment that you make,” she emphasized.
Barrett cited Chief Justice John Marshall’s leadership in the early 19th century and how he was able to “unite the justices as colleagues” and make the court “a cohesive unit.” Marshall started the practice of having the justices share a boarding house and eat dinner together and ultimately persuaded them to issue a single majority opinion rather than separate opinions from each member, she observed.
According to Barrett, the Constitution has survived for more than two centuries because of “the genius of the founders,” who balanced detailed rules with broader foundational principles and left many policy decisions up to legislatures. In her view, that flexibility largely leans on the legislative process while preserving commitments such as the separation of powers and individual liberties.
“The framers had the wisdom to not try to put too much in the immovable document, the one that would be harder to amend,” Barrett said. The Constitution was last modified in 1992 with the 27th Amendment.
Still, Barrett argued that the Constitution’s endurance ultimately depends on public commitment to its principles. Courts cannot enforce respect for the law all on their own and must rely on society to uphold shared norms.
“You can’t make people respect the law,” she said.
Instead, Americans must sustain a culture that values constitutional freedoms and commits people to “pluralism” and “tolerance” for differing viewpoints, she added.
Barrett, who joined the court in 2020, explained that she keeps a portrait of Abigail Adams in her chambers to honor the founding-era women’s influence.
Although women were barred from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, Adams played a significant role as a political observer and correspondent whose letters provide insights about the debates of the time, she noted.
Despite the limitations women faced, Adams was a “trailblazer” and “a sharp observer of the politics at the time,” all while raising a large family, said Barrett, herself a mother of seven children.
Barrett called the law “a great profession” in which lawyers help resolve a wide range of questions, disputes and civil and criminal cases. However, she cautioned students to weigh the financial costs, personal demands and professional commitment required for law school.
For those who choose the path, she said, lawyers can help society thrive through good legal work and modeling respectful debate.
“The best lawyers know how to argue without alienating people,” Barrett said.
Barrett described the Supreme Court as an institution whose current justices are only temporarily entrusted to lead.
“We are trying to care for an institution that our predecessors have passed down to us,” she said, “and that we will pass down to future generations of Americans.”
Source: Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the Library: “Respect the law” | Timeless
Discover more from DrWeb's Domain
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
