The San Joaquin Valley Town Hall Lecture Series hosted CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin to delve into the Supreme Court and its complexities, Oct. 19. Toobin’s lecture was titled “The Supreme Nine: Black Robbed Secrets.” During his talk, he analyzed the Supreme Court on a much deeper level than I had ever heard before, as well as explored the lives of the court justices themselves.
First off, Toobin introduced himself as a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School. During his college years, Toobin was a consistent writer, covering sports for The Crimson and eventually became an editor for The Harvard Law Review during his time as a law student. After his schooling, Toobin naturally pursued a career in law and became the assistant of a district attorney in Brooklyn.
However, Toobin changed career paths and moved on to a political writing position for The New Yorker. Since his job at the New Yorker, Toobin has settled down into a career as a legal analyst for CNN, covering such high-profile cases as the O. J. Simpson trial and winning an Emmy for his coverage of the Elian Gonzalez custody struggle.
Toobin’s outstanding education and fascinating job experiences resulted in a very interesting lecture. One of my worries going to the event was that, because of Toobin’s prior experience, he would come off as pretentious or beyond a high school student’s intellect. Yet Toobin delightfully surprised me, and even began his by explaining his love for Fresno. Apparently, Toobin grew up in Brooklyn and, as a result, he was a lifelong New York Mets fan. His favorite player, Tom Seaver, happened to be from Fresno and this resulted in his deep admiration for the city.
After capturing the audience with a brief description of his early life, Toobin went through the complex makeup of the Supreme Court. My knowledge of the court system was very limited beforehand and I only knew the basics. I did of course know what the court was, but I typically saw it as a group of nine judges who were virtually untouchable.
Toobin destroyed all of these assumptions and began to describe the justices in a very personal yet respectful manner. For example, Toobin explained in his lecture the very odd characteristics of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas; namely Thomas’ habit of never asking questions during hearings.
Toobin even went on to describe his favorite justice — or rather retired justice — David Souter. Souter was Toobin’s favorite justice for many law-related issues, but instead Toobin said he admired Souter because he was simply “weird.” Weird in Souter’s case meant many things, such as eating a yogurt and an apple for lunch, everyday.
It was anecdotes such as these that made Toobin’s lecture so interesting. Yet he also discussed many political issues such as the Bush vs. Gore presidential election of 2000 by adressing one of his many non-fiction works. This election is one of Toobin’s favorite contreversies when it comes to the Supreme Court’s ruling chiefly because the election was essentially decided by it.
The way Toobin described his opinion on this matter is what sets him apart from other political analysts such as Sean Hannity and Nancy Grace who are very biased with their journalism. Toobin did not agree with the Supreme Court’s decision to overrule the revote in the case of Bush vs. Gore, but he did so in a respectful way, sticking to an objective journalism standard.
Toobin also gave a question and answer time with Central Valley students, where the question of journalistic objectivity was raised. Toobin told us that the ideal way to analyze a topic without bias — which is nearly impossible — is to take the best argument from each side and present them both to the reader or viewer.
So, in addition to being one of the best legal analysts in the country, Toobin truly understands quality journalism and gracefully portrayed that to his audience. Although some audience members disagreed with Toobin’s political views during the question and answer time, he cited evidence to back up his beliefs.
Surrounded by biased news, I found Toobin to be a breath of fresh air as someone who truly attempts to remain objective in a media-crazed world. It is not wrong to hold to certain political beliefs, on the contrary it is very good to be opinionated. Yet it is wrong to expect others to see the world the same way that you do. Toobin blended his political opinions and extensive news experience to make a very delightful presentation, teaching these ethics while simultaniously exposing the complex world of the Supreme Court.
The next Town Hall Lecture will feature The New York Times columnist and best-selling author Andrew Ross Sorkin at the William Saroyan Theatre, Nov. 16. Students can attend a Q&A session with the author starting at 9:30 a.m.
For more information on The San Joaquin Valley Town Hall Lecture Series, read the March 29 article, Climate adviser promotes clean energy, conservation.
