[Chief Justice Kimberly Budd stands in a courtroom.]
Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court Kimberly Budd: Hello. Welcome to the historic John Adams Courthouse, home of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, and the Social Law Library. I'm Kimberly Budd, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. The film you are about to see will introduce you to our beautiful courthouse. You will explore some of the pivotal moments in our Court's remarkable history, which spans over three centuries. You will also hear five former justices discuss the critical role that our appellate courts play in preserving the rule of law and protecting individual rights. And if you'd like to see our courts in action, I invite you to view oral arguments, either here at the courthouse when possible, or online. And now, please enjoy the film.
[Screen fades to black and opens to a scene of people walking inside the John Adams Courthouse and various detail shots of the building's architecture, ending with an exterior shot of the courthouse.]
Narrator: Welcome to the John Adams Courthouse.
[Interior shots of courtrooms in the John Adams Courthouse.]
The John Adams Courthouse stands as a symbol for the ideals of justice enshrined in the Massachusetts Constitution, the oldest written constitution still in use in the world.
[Close up of the constitution.]
Its chief architect was John Adams.
[Painting of John Adams. A close up of the Constitution with on screen text that says "Article 29, Massachusetts Constitution 1780."]
Voice Actor as John Adams: It is essential to the preservation of the rights of every individual that there be an impartial interpretation of the laws and administration of justice.
[Interior shots of the Social Law Library.]
Narrator: Opened in 1894, the John Adams Courthouse is home to the Social Law Library, one of the most venerable law libraries in the country.
[Footage of a case being heard in the Appeals Court and of the Supreme Judicial Court bench.]
The building also houses the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court.
[Footage of justices entering the Supreme Judicial Court courtroom.]
Court Officer: Court all rise.
[Everyone in the courtroom stands up. Fades to all seven Supreme Judicial Court justices seated. On screen text says: "Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (2009 - 2020)." Close-ups of the justices during a case.]
Narrator: The Court's mission is to ensure every person equal access to a fair and unbiased resolution of disputes, free and independent of outside influence.
[Hon. Margaret Marshall seated. On screen text that says, "Hon. Margaret H. Marshall, Chief Justice (Retired) Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1996-2010)"]
Hon. Margaret H. Marshall: An independent judiciary is critical to maintaining constitutional democracy.
[Hon. Roderick Ireland seated. On screen text that says, "Hon. Roderick L. Ireland, Chief Justice (Retired) Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1997-2014)"]
Hon. Roderick Ireland: You have to have judges who can render decisions without fear of reprisals.
[Hon. Ralph Gants seated. On screen text that says, "Hon. Ralph D. Gants, Chief Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (2014-2020)"]
Hon. Ralph D. Gants: Without an independent judiciary, a democracy is without the fundamental ability to enforce the rules that are established in the Constitution.
[Drawing of John Adams. Close up of text on parchment that says "Thoughts on Government: Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies. In a Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend."]
Narrator: John Adams believed that an independent judiciary prevented any one branch of government from exerting too much control.
Voice Actor as John Adams: The judicial power ought to be distinct from both the legislative and executive branches so that it may be a check upon both.
[Hon. Robert Cordy seated. On screen text that says "Hon. Robert J. Cordy, Associate Justice (Retired) Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (2001-2016)." Footage of visitors viewing an exhibit in the John Adams Courthouse.]
Hon. Robert Cordy: The concept of a constitutional democracy truly has its roots right here with John Adams and the Massachusetts Constitution.
[Portrait of John Adams. Painting of the Boston Massacre.]
Narrator: A prominent attorney in 1770, John Adams made the vastly unpopular decision to defend British soldiers following the Boston Massacre.
Hon. Robert Cordy: One of his beliefs was that the law must be applied fairly to everyone, even the most hated amongst us,
[Close-up of British soldiers in Boston Massacre painting. Sound of musket shots.]
Hon. Robert Cordy: and surely his representation of the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre was an expression of the importance of this principle.
[Courtroom reenactment with actor as Grenville signing the Quartering Act. Montage of various actors performing a scene on stage. Students laugh in the audience.]
Actor as Grenville: Well, this is the Quartering Act...
Narrator: The Supreme Judicial Court is dedicated to making the John Adams Courthouse a center for civic education. In one outreach program, history is brought to life through interactive performances. During the play, "Uprising on King Street: The Boston Massacre," students assume the role of jurors in the trial of Captain Preston.
[Bell ringing, students exclaim. Actor on stage unrolls a tapestry with the initial JG inside the outline of a coffin with a skull and crossbones underneath. The town crier reads from a proclamation]
Actor as Town Crier: Oyez, Oyez, Oyez. Horrid massacre perpetrated last night on King Street by soldiers of the 29th regiment.
Actor as Judge Trowbridge: Today, you will decide whether or not the defendant, Captain Preston, is responsible for the killings of five men by soldiers under his command. I will ask you, Mr. Adams, to present your closing statement.
Actor as John Adams: Members of the jury, let us briefly review the events of the evening of March 5th. Captain Preston ordered his men not to fire. Instead he shouted, "Hold your fire!" "Do not fire!"
[Student in the audience stands with a microphone.]
Student: I think Captain Preston is innocent because any of the men out of all those people could have yelled, "Fire!"
[Second student in the audience stands with a microphone.]
Second Student: This verdict now declares that Captain Preston is not guilty of the murder that happened on March 5th.
Actor as Judge Trowbridge: Court is adjourned.
[Judge and other actors walk off stage.]
[Visitors view an exhibit called "John Adams: The Law, the Nation and the Massachusetts Constitution"]
Narrator: For John Adams, the Boston Massacre symbolized the dangers of mob rule.
[Hon. Geraldine Hines seated. On screen text that says "Hon. Geraldine S. Hines, Associate Justice (Retired) Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (2014-2017)"]
Hon. Geraldine Hines: We have to worry about the tyranny of the majority, which is always something that could happen when the executive and the legislative branches of government are following the will of the people.
[Close up of the Declaration of Rights.]
Narrator: To protect citizens, John Adams included A Declaration of Rights in our state constitution.
[On screen text says "Article 30, Massachusetts Constitution 1780"]
This Declaration or "bill of rights" concludes with the pivotal phrase, "We are a government of laws and not of men." Throughout his life, John Adams was a fierce defender of the rule of law.
Hon. Roderick Ireland: The rule of law is a concept, a policy that basically says that all of us are bound by the same laws.
[Close up of a statute of Lady Justice]
Just think about the image of Lady Justice. She is blindfolded. She cannot see who stands before her. She doesn't know the party's race, or their age, or their social status. She just renders a decision that is fair.
[Justice Shin speaks in a courtroom. Images of various justices of different ages, races, and genders.]
Narrator: For the courts to function as intended, people must have faith in the judicial process. One way to foster public trust is by appointing justices who reflect the diversity of the community, and bring a variety of perspectives to the law.
Hon. Geraldine Hines: People will trust the decisions of the Court if different experiences are informing the outcomes of very difficult decisions that the Court has to decide.
[Paintings of Justice Samuel Sewall and Chief Justice William Stoughton. On screen text that says, "Justice Samuel Sewall, Superior Court of Judicature (1692), Chief Justice William Stoughton, Superior Court of Judicature (1692)"]
Narrator: It wasn't until nearly three centuries after the Supreme Judicial Court's founding that the first woman was appointed to the bench in 1977. And 20 years later, the first person of color.
[Photos of Hon. Ruth Ida Abrams and Hon. Roderick Ireland. On screen text that says, "Hon. Ruth Ida Abrams, Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1977-2000), Hon. Roderick L. Ireland, Chief Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1997-2014)"]
Hon. Geraldine Hines: What you're looking for is a diverse point of view in reaching the outcomes. It may be the same or it may be different.
[Paintings depicting the Salem Witch Trials.]
Narrator: Established at the time of the Salem witch hysteria of 1692, the Supreme Judicial Court helped bring an end to the infamous witch trials. Since then, the Court has rendered decisions on some of our nation's most divisive issues.
Hon. Roderick Ireland: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was the very first supreme court to conclude that slavery was unconstitutional.
[Paintings of slaves being auctioned and of slaves in chains.]
It did so about 65 years before the Emancipation Proclamation. It was in 1783 in which our Supreme Judicial Court ruled: "All men are born free and equal." That comes from our Massachusetts Constitution.
[Photo of protesters with signs protesting segregated schools.]
Narrator: The Supreme Judicial Court has not always upheld that basic principle.
Hon. Geraldine Hines: We've had so many decisions over the course of our history where the courts have gone terribly wrong.
[Paintings of Robert Morris, Charles Summer, and Sarah Roberts.]
Narrator: In 1849, attorneys Robert Morris and Charles Sumner argued that five-year-old Sarah Roberts would receive an inferior education if she attended the all black Abiel Smith School, which was farther from her home.
[Painting of Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw with on screen text that says, "Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1830-1860)"]
In a decision penned by Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw, the Supreme Judicial Court rejected their arguments.
Hon. Roderick Ireland: In a very famous case called Roberts v. City of Boston, our Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld separate but equal.
[Painting of children attending school.]
Narrator: The separate but equal doctrine ignored the fact that schools for black children lacked basic resources afforded to schools for most white children. Decades later, the nation followed suit.
[Photo of a train station with a sign that says "Colored Waiting Room" and photo of a young black man drinking from a segregated water fountain.]
Hon. Roderick Ireland: The United States Supreme Court used the Roberts case as a basis for Plessy v. Ferguson, which was the case that stood for separate but equal.
[Photo of young black girl in a classroom with white children and a photo of black mother and daughter holding a newspaper with a headline that says "High Court Bans Segregation in Public Schools" sitting outside of the U.S. Supreme Court.]
Narrator: It wasn't until 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education that the United States Supreme Court finally rejected the separate but equal doctrine.
[♪ Music. Image of a statute of Lady Justice.]
[Images of an exhibit in the John Adams Courthouse entitled "The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti: Justice on Trial"]
Narrator: In the 1920s, Massachusetts courts became embroiled in a murder trial that captured the world's attention and is memorialized in the John Adams Courthouse as a reminder of the dangers of bias.
Hon. Robert Cordy: The Sacco and Vanzetti exhibit demonstrates, in a very visual way, the way prejudice infected a very important trial in our history.
[Image of the shoe factory in Braintree where the robbery took place. Image of a headline that says "Robbers Kill Guard and Rob Paymaster." Photos of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Photo of Dedham Superior Court.]
Narrator: On April 15th, 1920, a paymaster and security guard were shot and killed during a robbery at a shoe factory in Braintree. Two Italian immigrants, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, were arrested for the crime and tried in Dedham Superior Court.
Hon. Robert Cordy: What was on trial in that case was not really whether Sacco and Vanzetti had committed the robbery, but who they were.
[Photos of Sacco and Vanzetti with carrying luggage and with family.]
They were radicals, they were recent immigrants, things that are totally irrelevant, but things that became the major features in the trial.
[Images of various newspaper headlines, first ones that announced the lack of evidence against Sacco and Vanzetti, but then a final headline that states, "Guilty of Murder in 1st Degree"]
Narrator: Much of the prosecution's case focused on Sacco and Vanzetti's affiliation with anarchists. Despite the lack of evidence linking Sacco and Vanzetti directly to the crime, the men were found guilty of first-degree murder.
[Images of protesters outside the courthouse and Sacco and Vanzetti being led out of court in handcuffs. Image of the members of the Supreme Judicial Court during the trial. Newspaper that says "Sacco and Vanzetti Executed" with a photo of an electric chair.]
The verdict sparked international outrage. After motions for a new trial were denied, and the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the decisions of the lower court, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed.
[Person wearing an arm band that says, "Remember Justice Crucified, August 22, 1927"]
Hon. Ralph Gants: The enduring legacy of the Sacco and Vanzetti case is that we must always be mindful of the risk of a wrongful conviction. We are probably the only supreme court in the country which has an exhibit in our courthouse which reflects what was perhaps our greatest miscarriage of justice. It is a reminder to us that we must be humble in terms of the decisions we make and must always be looking back upon the possibility that we can make mistakes and that those mistakes need to be corrected.
[Footage of Supreme Judicial Court justices hearing a case.]
Narrator: The injustices of the Sacco and Vanzetti case serve as a stark reminder of the essential responsibilities of an appellate court.
Hon. Ralph Gants: The role of an appellate court is to review decisions made by our trial courts and ensure that they are in compliance with law and also supported by fact.
[Footage of Appeals Court justices hearing a case with onscreen text that says "Massachusetts Appeals Court"]
Narrator: By the 1970s, the Supreme Judicial Court's caseload had greatly expanded. An intermediate appellate court was established to help ensure the timely administration of justice. With over 1,300 cases reviewed annually, the Massachusetts Appeals Court has become the court of last resort for most people in the state. Justices on appellate courts strive to uphold our constitutional rights.
Hon. Roderick Ireland: Because of the structure of our Constitution, everyone has certain rights that they can turn to the courts to look for protection.
[Image of female justice in the courtroom. Image of same-sex couple and spectators celebrating the right to same-sex marriage.]
For example, in the Goodridge v. Department of Public Health case, we looked to the Constitution and concluded that would include the right to marry the person that you choose.
Hon. Geraldine Hines: States are finding fertile ground for protecting individual liberties, including the right to same-sex marriage, which our Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court adopted years before the United States Supreme Court.
[Image of people waving gay pride flags and celebrating outside of the United States Supreme Court.]
[Footage of Supreme Judicial Court justices hearing a court case.]
Narrator: For over three centuries, decisions by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court have had a profound influence on the nation. The 21st century brings new challenges, as courts resolve disputes concerning public safety and our fundamental rights to privacy and free speech.
[Photo of seven justices of the Supreme Judicial Court.]
Hon. Roderick Ireland: This Supreme Judicial Court makes decisions that impact every citizen in Massachusetts, and sometimes the entire rest of the world.
[Footage of Supreme Judicial Court justices hearing a court case.]
Narrator: Today's Court continues to rule on vital cases that shape our lives.
Hon. Robert Cordy: Massachusetts is the home of the independent judiciary in America.
[Footage of the interior of the John Adams Courthouse.]
This building, in all of its splendor, embodies that home and makes it real and exciting both historically speaking and looking into the future.
[Footage of students on a tour of the John Adams Courthouse and various visitors exploring the building.]
Hon. Margaret Marshall: I would like visitors to the John Adams Courthouse to leave celebrating our form of constitutional democracy. Ours is an extraordinary form of democracy. It is one of our greatest gifts to the world.
[Footage of the Lady Justice statue in the John Adams courthouse.]
[♪ Music]
[On screen text that says, "In Memory of Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants (1954-2020)"]
[On screen text that says, "This film was made with the generous cooperation and support of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, and the Social Law Library."]
[On screen text that says,
"Written and Directed by: Wendy Lement
Narrator: Haeley Porter
Historical Advisor: Barbara Berenson
Special Thank You for Contributions from:
Boston Bar Foundation
Mass Humanities
Supreme Judicial Court Historical Society
Individual Donors"]
[On screen text that says, "Photos and Images Courtesy of:
© 2020 Catlett Mora Family Trust/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Anti-Slavery Almanac, Boston
Art Resource
Associated Press
Bettman/CORBIS
Boston Globe
Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection
Boston Public Library, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Digital Commonwealth
Elise Amendola/Associated Press
George Rizer/Associated Press
Harvard Law School, Historical and Special Collections
Harvard University Portrait Collection, Gift of John Cooper to Harvard College
Harvard University Portrait Collection, Bequest of Ward Nicholas Boylston to Harvard College, 1828
Jim Bourg/Reuters
Library of Congress
Massachusetts Archives and Commonwealth Museum
Massachusetts Historical Society
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Archives and Records Preservation
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
Revolutionary Spaces
Smithsonian National Museum, Collection of African American History and Culture
Social Law Library