SCOTUSblog on camera: Burt Neuborne part five

The role of the Chief Justice and political labels in understanding the Court as an institution in whichthe Justices wrestle with many complex considerations through individual cases.

In this six-part series, Burt Neuborne describes the Supreme Court as a necessarily political institution, explains how the Constitution and the Courts position in our democracy affects our understanding of what the Court and its Justices can and should do, and tells stories of arguing before the Court and individual Justices. Mr. Neuborne is the Inez Milholland Professor of Civil Liberties and founding Legal Director of theBrennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. His long career in academe and civilrights advocacy includes teaching and writing about constitutional law and procedure, numerousoral arguments before and briefs submitted to the Supreme Court, and serving as a principal counselin lawsuits seeking to recover property unjustly taken from Holocaust victims by Swiss banks andGerman corporations during the Nazi era.