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.

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 "F*** 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.

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