Underneath Their Robes

The Prodigal Blogress Returns

You can expect to hear more from Article III Groupie in the weeks ahead. Details here.

Early wishes for a happy Fourth of July!

A3G Visits One First Street!

Today your beloved blogress paid a visit to the Supreme Court. Yes, that's right -- Article III Groupie swung by One First Street.

Visiting the Court fills A3G with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it brings up painful memories of how her hopes of joining the Elect were dashed. On the other hand, it's always a thrill to see the justices in the flesh -- and, of course, to hobnob with their clerks.

Some random observations:

1. When the justices enter the courtroom, after the thrilling cry of "oyez, oyez," the height differentials are quite striking. Justice Ginsburg is tiny! You could smuggle her into Disneyworld in your fannypack.

2. Justice Breyer does a nice job of handing down an opinion. His voice is loud and clear, he moves through the reasoning well, and he mentions the key cases. You're reminded that he used to be a professor.

3. Justice Kennedy also acquits himself well in delivering a decision. And his job was much harder -- summarzing the bewildering tangle of opinions and judgments in the Texas redistricting case. (Of course, much of the mess is due to the way that he voted.)

4. Chief Justice Roberts -- what a hunk! He can make even Article 35 of the Vienna Convention sound sexy. A3G wouldn't mind having "Consular Relations" with the Chief!

5. The justices were pretty quiet during the handing down of opinions. There wasn't much of the cross-talk and whispering that one sees between the justices during oral argument.

Yes, Justice Thomas looked like he was dozing off; but his chair was rocking too much for him to be truly asleep. Justice Alito, the new kid on the block, looked alert. He occasionally sipped water out of a silver tumbler. Justice Scalia drank coffee out of a bright green, reflective mug -- the kind that law students get for free from BarBri reps. Every time he took a sip, the mug sent a reflected beam of green light out into the audience. Weird.

Okay, that's all for now. More details about A3G's visit, as well as lots of pictures, are available here. Still more photos are available here.

Breaking: Chicago's Dirksen Courthouse Under Lockdown

Details here and here. (Gavel bang: How Appealing.)

The individual that authorities are searching for, Larnell Rogers, is not believed to be dangerous. Furthermore, contrary to initial reports, he is not an escaped prisoner. This will probably turn out to be no big deal.

But in light of recent breaches of courthouse security, as well as attacks upon judges and their families -- including the horrific killings of the husband and mother of Judge Joan Lefkow (N.D. Ill.), whose chambers are in the Dirksen building -- one can't be too careful.

Update: A reader points out:

A prisoner escaped and killed two guards in the Dirksen in 1992, before being gunned down in the driveway out of the building parking lot, so that probably looms large, too. An award is now named after one of the guards, Harry Belluomini.

Further Update: CNN is reporting that the Dirksen Courthouse building is no longer under lockdown -- not because Rogers has been apprehended, but because it appears he has left the building.

In Camera: Fantastic Photos of Justice Alito!

Last night, Article III Groupie spent some quality time with the newest member of the Supreme Court, Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. The details of the event, as well as more photographs, are available here.

At the risk of sounding immodest, A3G thinks that Justice Alito is familiar with her work. When A3G went up to Justice Alito to introduce herself, Justice Alito asked her how she was enjoying Washington -- which she moved to only a few months ago, around the time that Justice Alito came to town.

In addition, Justice Alito was overheard at dinner talking about how bloggers wrote about his children. Could he perhaps be referring to this UTR post?

This wasn't A3G's only brush with judicial celebrity for the evening. She was chatting amiably with her dinner companions when, lo and behold, their table was joined by royalty: newly confirmed D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh!!!

Article 3 Groupie could barely speak. She did manage to extend a sweaty (but well-manicured) hand towards the judge, introducing herself and offering congratulations on his recent confirmation. But A3G didn't have much more interaction with Judge Kavanaugh. Some people just freeze up in the presence of celebrity!

At the end of the meal, A3G asked Judge Kavanaugh if he would pose for a photograph. To her great dismay, the modest and unassuming jurist demurred. Maybe next time...

But A3G was able to photograph Justice Alito, as well as other UTR celebs -- such as Sasha Volokh, the former O'Connor and current Alito clerk, who will be teaching at Georgetown Law School in the fall. You can check the pictures out here. Enjoy!

A3G Just Wet Herself

... after checking out this amazing resource for tracking the ranks of Supreme Court clerks. WOW!

Of course, the Wikipedia entry for SCOTUS clerks is only as good as the contributions that readers make to it. So if you can fill in some of the gaps, please do so by editing the entry. 

(Gavel bang: Confirm Them, which explains the research project here. It seems that "BoBo" is just as obsessed with the Elect as Article III Groupie!)

Justice Scalia, Fashion Police

For someone who wears pants that are a little tight in the seat, Justice Antonin Scalia has plenty of opinions about fashion. Tony Mauro reports on recent remarks by Justice Scalia about one of his former clerks, Solicitor General Paul Clement:

[T]he warmest words [at a recent Georgetown Law reception] came from Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom Clement clerked in 1993 and 1994. Scalia said that Clement, who had shown his talents as deputy solicitor general before being promoted, was "the sentimental favorite" among justices for the post. "I am so glad he is solicitor general, because he makes my job easier."

But Scalia mystified the audience somewhat by revealing one complaint he had about Clement: the black vest he wears to the Court with the customary swallow-tail morning coat as solicitor general.

Scalia insisted the vest should be a pearl gray, and he thought Clement had broken with tradition. "As you know, all change is presumptively wrong," Scalia said, only half-joking. But the justice said he had the Court curator look up the history of the outfit, and, sure enough, Clement was right; black is the proper and traditional color for the SG's vest.

Interesting! One of those rare occasions when the brilliant Justice Scalia has gotten something wrong.

To the handful of you lucky enough to ever work in the Solicitor General's office, please take note, and dress accordingly. To the Great Unwashed, take this knowledge as purely academic, for your information only.

(Yes, A3G knows that a handful of lawyers in the SG's office never clerked on the Supreme Court; but come on, let's get real. If you're not among the Elect, your chances of being hit by a bus, killed by a terrorist, or hit by a terrorist driving a bus are better than your chances of getting a job with the Solicitor General. HA.) 

There are additional interesting tidbits in the full article, which can be accessed here.

Judicial SIGHT-ations: Quick 'n Dirty

Greetings, readers. Apologies for the cursory nature of this post. Article III Groupie is leaving the office early today -- she's attending her tenth college reunion -- and so she's scrambling to finish up her work and get out the door.

Two quick quasi-sightations for A3G's fellow judicial groupies. They're not the "purest" of judicial celebrity sightings, since they're reports on official events with the justices -- as opposed to, say, sightings of Justice Alito at Shoprite, or walking down the street in downtown Newark. And they're not original to UTR, but lifted from other blogs.

Nevertheless, they're still interesting and fun to read about. Here they are:

--over at De Novo, PG's impressively detailed write-up of Justice Scalia's recent appearance at the University Club (see especially the Q-and-A); and

--over at Wonkette, an account of the Supreme Court's recent trip to the movies, prior to the dinner in honor of the retired Justice O'Connor (originally reported in the Washington Post).

Have a good weekend!

Hands Off Justice Nathan Hecht

Article III Groupie wasn't exactly kind to White House Counsel Harriet Miers during her unsuccessful quest for a Supreme Court seat. A3G poked fun at Miers's constantly changing hairstyles, her qualifications for the post, her knowledge of Supreme Court history, and her taste in books.

But A3G can't condone what's happening to Miers's onetime paramour, Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht. The Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct is criticizing Hecht for the interviews he gave to the news media concerning Miers, on the theory that he violated the canon prohibiting a judge from "advanc[ing] the private interests of the judge or others." More details here.

A3G hasn't taken a close look at this issue, so perhaps she's missing something; but at first glance, this strikes her as dubious. Were the Third Circuit judges who testified before the Senate about Justice Samuel A. Alito acting unethically? What about Judges Walter Stapleton and Alex Kozinski, when they testified in support of their former law clerk, newly confirmed Judge Brett Kavanaugh?

What about a judge who writes a letter of recommendation for a former law clerk, or who agrees to serve as a reference for that clerk? What if a judge recommends a former clerk for a job -- e.g., a Supreme Court clerkship -- in the hope of burnishing his own judicial prestige and influential network of ex-clerks (e.g., the Luttigators)?

Isn't that judge "advanc[ing] the private interests of the judge or others"? And if so -- so what?

A UTR Salute to Judge Presnell

Being a good trial judge -- which is a far more difficult than being a good appellate judge -- requires the ability to cut through a lot of b.s.

Measured by this standard, it appears that Judge Gregory A. Presnell (M.D. Fla.) is nothing short of awesome.

Lawyers make everything so needlessly complicated. For example, who needs the voir dire process? What a waste of time! Just pick jurors using "Eeny meeny miney mo."

Judge orders lawyers to play game [Fortune]

Bench-Slapped: Scalia v. Alito?

Yes, you read that right. If you thought that Justice Alito was just going to be an acolyte of Justice Scalia -- Sancho Panza to Nino's Don Quijote* -- think again. You can read all about their spat here.

* Perhaps that was a less-than-ideal metaphor; Scalia looks more like Sancho Panza than Alito. Indeed, one devotee of Nino has bestowed upon him the nickname of "Sancho Panza from New Jersey."