Separation of Powers (The West Wing)

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“Separation of Powers”
The West Wing episode
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 95
Guest stars	Matthew Perry Gary Cole Elisabeth Moss Michael Hyatt Steven Culp Milo O'Shea H. Richard Greene NiCole Robinson Obi Ndefo Amy Stewart Kristoffer Winters
Written by	Paul Redford
Directed by	Alex Graves
Production no.	176057
Original airdate
Season 5 episodes
7A WF 83429 The Dogs of War Jefferson Lives Han Constituency of One Disaster Relief Separation of Powers Shutdown Abu el Banat The Stormy Present The Benign Prerogative Slow News Day The Warfare of Genghis Khan An Khe Full Disclosure Eppur Si Muove The Supremes Access Talking Points No Exit Gaza Memorial Day
List of The West Wing episodes

"Separation of Powers" is episode 95 of The West Wing.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Plot

Matthew Perry returns as deputy counsel Joe Quincy, a former clerk to the Chief Justice of the United States, who's tapped by Toby to try to persuade the aging jurist to retire following a collapse. Meanwhile, Josh is on the sidelines as budget negotiations with Congressional Republican leaders reach a critical stage; and C.J.'s worried about Zoey's impending TV interview.

[edit] Trivia

Joe Quincy mentions that Ashland is the reason why a mixed race couple can get married in Texas and why a cop has to read his suspect his rights. The two real life Supreme Court decisions that made those decisions were Loving v. Virginia and Miranda v. Arizona, respectively. The former was in 1967 and the latter in 1966. This would seem to contradict a later assertion that Ashland joined the court in 1972 and that the cases were not decided with their historical votes, or that the two cases did not occur at all and two other, fictional Supreme Court cases occurred later, each decided largely through the actions of Ashland alone.