Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight

This bout, 15 rounds

for the heavyweight championship of the world.

The challenger from louisville, Kentucky,

weighing 210 and one-half pounds,

the former olympic light heavyweight champion,

Cassius Clay.

Of those of you who won't be able

to see the Clay-liston fight,

here is the eighth round exactly as it will happen.

Clay comes out to meet liston

and liston starts to retreat.

If liston goes back an inch farther,

he'll end up in a ringside seat.

Clay swings with his left, Clay swings with his right.

Look at young Cassius carry the fight.

Liston keeps backing, but there's not enough room...

It's a matter of time... Our Clay lowers the boom.

Sonny liston's not coming out.

Sonny liston is not coming out.

He's out! The winner and the new

heavyweight champion of the world is Cassius Clay!

I'm the greatest fighter that ever lived.

I don't have a mark on my face

and I upset Sonny liston

and I just turned 22 years old.

I must be the greatest.

I shook up the world. I shook up the world.

I shook up the world.

¶

Cassius is not my name no more.

Officially muhammad Ali now?

Muhammad Ali.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. muhammad Ali

has just refused to be inducted

into the United States armed forces.

Notification of his refusal is being made

to the United States attorney,

the state director of the selective service system,

and the local selective service board

for whatever action deemed to be appropriate.

How did they treat you? Respectable.

¶

respect for law in a nation

is the most priceless asset a free people can have.

And the chief justice and his associates

are the ultimate custodians and guardians

of that priceless asset.

And when we consider what a chief justice has

in the way of influence on his age

and the ages after him, I think it could fairly be said

that our history tells us, our chief justices

have probably had a more profound and lasting influence

than most presidents have had.

Good morning, petrus.

Good morning, sir. How was your summer?

It was good to get away, Mr. chief justice, sir.

Nice to see you again. You, too, sir.

Thank you.

Good morning.

¶

sorry.

¶

Come in.

Mr. connolly. I'm Mrs. Paige, p-a-I-g-e.

You're 27 minutes late.

You're not off to a good start.

I'm sorry. My car broke down. Mr. connolly.

Back down the corridor.

The washroom is the third door on the right.

Thank you.

Straight ahead, Mr. connolly.

We've got ourselves a live one there,

huh, Mrs. p?

Don't flirt with me, Mr. Becker.

It does not become you.

- Morning. - Morning, chief.

Good morning, sir. Janet.

Ohh.

This term, we really must do

something about this office.

It's ridiculous. It's not satisfactory.

It's smaller than my office at the court of appeals.

I'm the chief, petrus. Makes no sense.

Take those geraniums to maintenance.

Oh, and petrus, don't overwater them.

They won't bloom.

Yes, sir.

Mr. justice, this is Kevin connolly.

Sorry I'm late, sir.

Please, take a seat, Mr. connolly.

Your grandfather.

Yes. He was on the court for 34 years.

"The great dissenter."

The only justice to vote against segregation.

Plessy v. Ferguson. 1896.

But even in his dissent he still

called the white race the dominant race

and vowed it would continue for all time. Heh.

Oh, sir, I... I'm sorry.

I wasn't thinking. That's actually very rude.

You know your court history, Mr. connolly.

Or maybe you just did some research to impress me.

There is currently a case in court.

Cohen v. California.

Cohen walked through a courthouse

wearing a jacket with the words "fuck the draft"

inscribed on the back.

He was sentenced to 30 days.

"Congress shall make no law

abridging the freedom of speech."

That's a very literal interpretation of the first amendment.

Clearly, if the first amendment protects speech of any kind,

it protects political speech.

And if the court is saying that anti-war protests

are not protected by free speech,

then it's not paying attention to what's

going on outside its doors.

I know your war record, sir.

Oh? Then you know I'm no pacifist.

You should know I was a student activist.

I've worked as a legal advisor to draftees,

informing them of their rights, I'm a democrat...

Mr. connolly, I'm not interested in your politics.

Here we're only interested in the law.

Besides, it's all in here. Huh.

Tell me something. How would your wife

feel about relocating to DC?

Well, clearly, we've talked about it,

in principle, that is.

She... I think she'd be very happy for me.

We're expecting our first child, sir.

Oh, how marvelous. Ha!

Well, thank you very much, Mr. connolly.

Um... are you... are you gonna hire me, sir?

Hmm. Well, we may not agree on certain matters.

We may take different positions on many things.

I'm only interested in your I.Q.,

which I see is substantial.

And your academic skills, which I note are impressive.

I want brilliant people

and I'll take care of the rest.

Wow. That's great, sir. Thank you, sir.

That's all.

Uh... on the other hand,

you could make the argument that

wearing a jacket in the courthouse

is not speech but conduct.

"An absurd and immature antic,"

and is therefore not protected by the first amendment.

Now you're just showing off.

Yes, sir. Mr. justice.

Kevin connolly. Hi. How you doing?

Covert Becker the third.

What's your school, connolly?

Missouri.

Sam edelstein. The first.

I have been here 6 months.

Covert here is a second termer.

Guess that makes you the boss.

Oh, I guess it does.

What's with... With all the lights in there?

That's the justice's eyesight, and it's getting worse.

That's you.

Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Chicago.

That's the norm. It's tradition.

I don't believe we've ever had a clerk

from the university of Missouri before.

Yeah, no black clerks, no women clerks.

I guess that's tradition, too.

Great. Another bleeding heart liberal

well, you've landed with the wrong justice, my friend.

Plus, the chief is Nixon's man,

and another conservative has just been

appointed to the court.

Thank you, God, a change is gonna come.

Ow.

Why do you insist on being called

muhammad Ali now?

That's the name given to me by my leading teacher...

The honorable Elijah muhammad.

That's my original name. That's a black man name.

Cassius Clay was my slave name. I'm no longer a slave.

What does it mean?

"Muhammad" means "worthy of all praises"

and "Ali" means "most high."

This will be an organization

that will give the black man in this country

the right to defend himself.

It will encourage him to defend himself,

and it will teach him how to defend himself.

By any means necessary.

This is the regular dance that I use

just before the shuffle.

I'm moving and I'm moving and I'm jumping around

and just before you know it...

A split second right after that shuffle is the big punch.

We are 22 million people

who don't have our names.

We were named after our slave masters.

So teaches the honorable Elijah muhammad.