Underneath Their Robes

Rosemary Alito: Judicial Sis, Leading Litigatrix

In his remarks accepting President Bush's nomination to the Supreme Court, Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., thanked various people for their love and support over the years. One of those people was his younger sister, Rosemary Alito, whom Judge Alito described as "a great friend and an inspiration as a great lawyer, and as a strong and independent person."

A "strong and independent," high-powered female lawyer? The type of woman who, if she were a judge, would be a judicial diva? Rosemary Alito definitely piqued Article III Groupie's interest. Having already reported on the Alito children, A3G decided to conduct a little investigation into the Supreme Court nominee's little sis; here's what she learned.

Rosemary Alito is New Jersey's leading labor law litigatrix. (Less colorful accounts describe her as "well-regarded," "highly accomplished," and one of New Jersey's "top employment lawyers.") She's a partner at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham, working out of the firm's office in Newark, New Jersey. Prior to being scooped up by K&L in a talent raid, she was a partner for many years at McCarter & English, one of the state's largest firms.

As noted in her firm bio on the K&L website, Rosemary Alito was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, and she received the Trial Bar Award from the Trial Attorneys of New Jersey in 1999. She's the author of the treatise New Jersey Employment Law, as well as numerous articles. WOW -- clearly legal genius runs in this family! (Interestingly enough, insofar as Judge Alito focused on appellate litigation during his pre-robescent legal career, judicial sis Rosemary is probably a better trial lawyer than her big brother.)

Rosemary Alito is also "incredibly well-connected" in New Jersey legal circles. Rumor has it that "she was considered for the position of U.S. Attorney by Bush II, which ultimately went to Christopher Christie." UTR's source reports that "[t]here were two stumbling blocks for her getting the job: (1) her lack of criminal law experience (although that was true of Christie as well), and (2) her dating one of the state's top criminal defense lawyers, Michael Critchley (not sure if they're still an item)."

Let's close this post with a delicious celebrity sighting of both Alito siblings. A UTR reader reports that Judge Alito and his sister, while both brilliant and tremendously accomplished, have somewhat different personalities. Judge Alito, who tends toward the formal side, appears to excel in more structured social settings; Rosemary Alito, in contrast, is better one-on-one.*

Here's the judicial sight-ation:

Hi A3G. I'm a New Jersey lawyer and a devotee of your wonderful blog. I just wanted to write to you about my judicial sightation of Judge Samuel Alito and his very impressive sister, Rosemary Alito.

I saw Judge Alito and his sister at a Federal Bar Association (FBA) event for new lawyers about two years ago. Judge Alito was one of the speakers, and his sister Rosemary was presiding over the meeting; she was President of the FBA (and may still be, I'm not sure).

Before the formal event started, there was a cocktail hour. There was a real contrast during this period between Judge Alito and his sister. Judge Alito seemed a bit awkward, and he seemed to have a hard time moving from one conversational circle to the other, which is a critical skill for cocktail parties. I chatted with him briefly -- I had a friend who had clerked for him -- and our conversation, while very pleasant, ended a little abruptly.

Rosemary Alito, on the other hand, was a cocktail party natural, circulating throughout the room smoothly and gracefully. She's a striking woman, tall and attractive, and she was strikingly dressed, in a rather daring leopard-print skirt. Rosemary Alito is clearly an expert at "working it"; she knows how to charm and disarm the most powerful men. She would approach various giants of the New Jersey bar, in a casual and friendly fashion, exchanging cheek-kisses and touching some of them lightly on the forearm. When one of them would tell a joke, she would throw back her magnificent mane of dark hair, and let out peals of full-bodied laughter. One could learn a lot from her!

Once the more formal proceedings started, Judge Alito came into his own. Rosemary Alito gave introductory remarks, and while she did an excellent job in presiding over the meeting, her performance wasn't as awe-inspiring as it was during the cocktail party.

Judge Alito, however, was a fantastic speaker. He was giving a speech on tips and pitfalls in appellate advocacy -- a pretty boring topic. But he was actually hilarious! I can't remember any of his specific remarks (it was two years ago), but he had lots of funny (yet good-natured) anecdotes about bone-headed things lawyers had done. The audience was eating out of his hand!

Here in the Garden State, we're thrilled that one of our own has been nominated to the Supreme Court. Most New Jersey lawyers are more liberal than Judge Alito, but he has a great reputation in our legal community for his brilliance, his kindness, and his integrity. We're pulling for him!

Wonderful! A3G thanks her reader for this detailed report. And she hopes that, as we saw in the case of John G. Roberts, Jr., people of good will on both sides of the aisle can come together behind a nominee who is indisputably bright and fair. In terms of a SCOTUS nominee from a Republican president, liberals could do a lot worse than Judge Samuel Alito.

* This is consistent with what Professor Eric Muller, who worked with Judge Alito in the U.S. Attorney's Office, recently observed: Sam Alito is "a bit shy and a touch awkward" in "small-ish interpersonal settings," but "remarkably at ease and exceedingly funny" when speaking to a larger group."

Happy Halloween from A3G!

Article III Groupie has been very busy blogging about our fabulous Supreme Court nominee, Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. But A3G didn't forget that today is a special day. Happy Halloween!

Alas, this year there's no special Halloween-related programming here at UTR. But feel free to go back and check out last year's holiday post, Judicial SIGHT-ations: Halloween Special Issue, in which A3G revealed what Judge Alito's colleague, Judge Walter K. Stapleton, dressed up as for Halloween last year. Or head over to Judge Alito's blog, to find out what costume he donned tonight. (Here's a hint: invisible jet sold separately.)

Did A3G go trick-or-treating today? Sadly enough, no; she didn't have the time. But if she could have, she would have dressed up as the scariest person that she can think of. "I'll get you, Ninth Circuit conservatives, and your little dogs too!"

Judge Samuel Alito: Under His Robe

According to news reports, Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., will soon be named as President Bush's Supreme Court nominee. To learn more about Judge Alito, check out these three great reports, from people with firsthand knowledge of what Sam Alito is really like: Eric Muller, Orin Kerr, and Michael Cernovich.

Of course, as a leading judicial celebrity, Judge Samuel Alito is no stranger to the pages of Underneath Their Robes. To locate Article III Groupie's prior posts on Judge Sam Alito, go to Google and type in the following (or click here):

--site:underneaththeirrobes.blogs.com alito

In addition to A3G's recent open letter to President Bush in favor of nominating Judge Samuel Alito, here are a few highlights from UTR's coverage of this superb jurist:

1. A judicial sightation of Judge Alito, "wandering down Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey," in the direction of T.M. Ward's Coffee Shop.

Ward's, by the way, has named a blend of coffee after SCOTUS nominee Alito. In the wake of President Bush's official announcement, expect sales of "Judge Alito's Bold Justice Blend" to skyrocket! The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report:

At T.M. Ward Coffee Co. in downtown Newark, near Alito's office, the judge is known more for his taste in coffee than for his legal philosophy. Store clerk Vera Barbosa said that Alito's law clerks wanted to do something special for his birthday a few years ago, so they persuaded the store to come up with a special blend for him.

"Judge Alito's Bold Justice Blend" -- a mix of Colombian, Java and New Guinea with a bit of espresso -- remains a hot seller at the coffee shop, Barbosa said, and Alito often stops by for it - by the cup and by the pound.

"He's a great man," Barbosa said. "He's very polite. He comes in whenever he has a chance. He's very nice."

2. A comparison of Judge Alito to the lovely and talented Kate Winslet, in The Race to the Courthouse: Some Insights from the Oscars.

Back in that post, A3G compared five Supreme Court short-listers to the five nominees for Best Actress at this year's Oscars. A3G wrote:

Both Alito and Winslet have been on the scene for a while, and they are justifiably held in high regard. For many years, they have been working hard and turning in fine performances. They are personally pleasant, and they are exceedingly well-liked.

But they face the same problem: How can they steal the momentum from their flashier, more aggressive colleagues? Despite his misleading nickname of "Scalito," the unassuming Judge Alito isn't nearly as forceful a personality as Justice Scalia. How can Judge Alito avoid becoming breakfast for Judge Luttig's pack of hungry wolves -- the powerful network of well-placed Luttigators, who all share a cult-like devotion to the aggrandizement of their former boss?

By the way, although A3G loves nicknames, she will generally avoid using the moniker of "Scalito" (whose origin is explained at Stuart Buck's blog). As noted by Fred Barbash and Peter Baker of the Washington Post, "most observers believe that [nickname] greatly oversimplifies his record. Alito is considered far less provocative a figure than Scalia both in personality and judicial temperament. His opinions and dissents tend to be dryly analytical rather than slashing. In addition, his appeals court record is not uniformly conservative on the sorts of issues that arise in Supreme Court confirmation battles."

So, although conservatives should be happy that President Bush has selected a nominee "in the mold of Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas," liberals should not have a reaction of knee-jerk antipathy towards Judge Alito.

3. A judicial sightation of Judge Alito at the local Shoprite supermarket. According to UTR's source, the possible future Associate Justice "bags his own groceries"!

4. A lengthy footnote about Judge Alito, in a post suggesting that President Bush nominate Jennifer Lopez, Oprah Winfrey, or Janet Jackson's right breast to the Supreme Court. A3G expressed fear that Judge Alito's status as one of the Great Unwashed would hurt his SCOTUS candidacy. She's happy to be wrong!

5. A quick post noting that Judge Alito "is known for being brilliant, mild-mannered, and unfailingly polite."

6. In this post about then-Judge Michael Chertoff, a former colleague of Judge Alito, A3G noted (item #14) that Judge Alito's wife, Martha Alito, "was formerly the law librarian in the U.S. Attorney's Office where he worked."

7. In this post about Judge Consuelo M. Callahan, A3G identified Judge Alito (and then-Judge Roberts) as a top SCOTUS possibility. A3G described Judge Alito as "relatively young, impressively credentialed, and reliably conservative, but not fierily or flamboyantly so."

The moral of the story of Judge Alito's nomination: sometimes nice guys do finish first. On behalf of UTR's readers, A3G says:

WE LOVE YOU JUDGE ALITO!!!

A Judicial SIGHT-ation from Down Under: Nino and Steve's Excellent Adventure!

With all of their joint appearances, feisty debates, and dueling books, Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Stephen G. Breyer are fast becoming the One First Street version of the Kozinski-and-Reinhardt Traveling Debate Society. This past weekend, Justice Scalia and Justice Breyer made an appearance in Australia -- where, by the way, Underneath Their Robes has a small but devoted cult following. An Aussie correspondent offers this fantastic judicial sightation:

Here in Melbourne, Australia, we’ve just been treated to an overdose of federal judicial glamour in a two-day conference last weekend. Justices Scalia and Breyer joined their counterparts Justices Michael Kirby and Dyson Heydon of the High Court of Australia in addressing the high-powered but pretentiously-titled “Boston, Melbourne, Oxford Conversazione on Culture” on the theme of judicial activism. You’ll be glad to know that the Supremes completely upstaged their Australian hosts.

Justice Scalia was in fine form, and had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand as he addressed them on his particular brand of originalism. While I’m sure he covered territory that would be well known to American audiences, his speech was a breath of fresh air to an Australian audience used to the more mealy-mouthed style of judicial speech-making in this country.

His speech prompted bouts of uproarious laughter and sustained applause, and ranged in tone from very serious discussion of legal principle to mordant wit and biting sarcasm. His main theme was that the Constitution requires ‘government by the people, not government by judicial aristocracy,’ and thus that the attempt to replace democratic politics by ‘expert’ moral legislation from the bench was as much bound to fail as the attempt to replace politics by ‘expert’ administration in the first half of the 20th century.

Scalia’s speech was filled with witty aphorisms. On the purported desire to appoint only ‘moderate' judges, Scalia ironically asked: ‘What is a “moderate” judge? One who gives opinions half way between what the Constitution actually says and what they’d like it to say? Talking about “moderate” judges makes no sense, but talking about moderate politics does.’

On the importance of structural aspects of the Constitution, he said: ‘It’s easier to fill a mob behind a banner that says “Free Speech or Death!” than one that says “Bicameralism or a Fight!” But the latter is the more important!”. And on criticism, he said: ‘So, my opinions get criticised: but so what? I’ve got life tenure!!!’

Great, great stuff; what excellent attention to detail! And now, please pay special attention to this next paragraph:

I can also confirm that Justice Scalia appears to be a furtive reader of “Underneath Their Robes”. Before dinner on the Saturday night, a friend and I sought a photo op with Nino, and we mentioned to him that in some circles he is known as the Rock Star of One First Street -- to which he nodded and smiled knowingly!!! Now, if that’s not proof enough that he reads UTR, I don’t know what is!

Justice Breyer is obviously less used to photo ops, and seemed a little embarrassed when I approached him at the Sunday night dinner. When I saw him, I noticed that he was wearing the lapel pin of the French Legion of Honour, which seemed to me to be taking this whole “foreign law” thing a bit too far. His speech earlier in the day was a bit like a high school civics lecture, and he lacked the wit and levity of Scalia the day before. Obviously, the two of them don’t see eye to eye, and Breyer spent most of his speech staring daggers at Scalia!

Very interesting! Might the Scalia-Breyer relationship be less good-natured than the one between Judge Kozinski and Judge Reinhardt?

(Before we get all excited at the prospect of AS and SGB slapping each other silly, however, it's worth noting that Justice Breyer is probably not the bench-slapping type. In Jeffrey Toobin's fascinating profile of Justice Breyer, former SGB clerk Neal Katyal has the following to say about his former boss: "Lots of times his colleagues will throw barbs at him in opinions, but he’ll never say a bad word about them, in public or private.")

UTR's antipodean source continues:

Breyer described his constitutional outlook as one that paid attention to the purposes of the law under scrutiny and to the consequences of judicial decision-making, and he did a decent job of defending his outlook. Breyer claimed that no judge describes him- or herself as someone who applies their personal preferences when judging.

Scalia thought this was disingenuous, and responded with a joke: ‘A farmer hears a noise in the night and goes out to the chicken coop to investigate. He asks “who’s there?” and the answer comes back “no-one but us chickens,” and so the farmer goes back to bed. You’re like that farmer!’ Breyer was not amused!!

I would say, though, that Justice Breyer was more eloquent and persuasive in response to questions and in conversation over dinner than he was in his actual speech. At dinner, he also continued the French theme by weaving in a very good quotation from Camus’ “The Plague” in response to a question.

With best wishes, and with constant admiration for your blog,

[A University of Melbourne law student]

WOW! How great is that? A3G thanks the writer for this delightful account of how our Supreme Court justices are bringing the glory of the federal judiciary to every corner of the earth. Keep up the fine work, Your Honors; the world needs more Article III groupies!

Judicial SIGHT-ation: Scalia and Breyer, Live In Concert!

It appears that some of you are not enamored of this blog's coverage of Harriet Miers. So Article III Groupie is instituting a temporary moratorium on Harriet Miers-related blogging. Here is another post that is unrelated to our SCOTUS nominee.

On September 28, at Harvard Law School, Justice Antonin Scalia and Justice Stephen G. Breyer participated in a panel discussion on judging, together with several British judges. Blogospheric accounts of the event are available at Magic Cookie and Althouse, among other places, and a partial transcript of the proceedings is available at Ninoville. (Gavel bang: How Appealing.)

In response to a request by Article III Groupie, UTR readers submitted many juicy tidbits about the event. Here are a few selected comments that struck A3G as funny or interesting:

"The dignified Ames Courtroom in Austin Hall had the feeling of a rock concert arena, and, as the time for the meeting drew near, I overheard some talk of brandishing cigarette-lighters as though at a rock concert. High drama came over the packed room as Nino took his seat: it was a bit unstable and he almost lost his balance in it."

As it turned out, Justice Scalia wasn't the only one with balance problems:

"Stephen Breyer was leaning so far back in his chair that, from where I was sitting, it looked like he kept disappearing and his head would pop up once in a while."

Even inanimate objects in the room couldn't remain upright, as reflected in this reader's comment about problems with signage:

"The fifth member of the panel, The Right Honorable Lady Arden (great name), wasn't announced, so she must have been a last-minute addition. They accidentally made a much smaller name card for her and had to go print a bigger one. Then that one kept falling off the ledge despite her best efforts to prop it up. Justice Breyer was very gentlemanly and fixed it for her."

Um, excuse me, but the thought of a Supreme Court justice tinkering with some stupid sign is mortifying. Where were Danielle, Kathryn, Jon, and John, when Justice Breyer needed them most?

Check out the comment below. Could the Rock Star of One First Street, perhaps like Justice O'Connor (or her clerks), be a reader of this blog?

"[A] friend of mine who couldn't get in reported that she was standing in the hallway when Justice Scalia passed by. Her friend called out, 'Justice Scalia, will you sign my book?' and he graciously stopped and signed. As he walked away, they heard him say, 'It's not easy being a rock star.'"

There were actually several Nino groupies on the Harvard campus that day:

"[W]hile walking from Austin to Hauser for lunch, Scalia, who was chatting with one of the U.K. Law Lords, was approached by an eager young groupie who asked for Scalia's autograph and to have a picture taken with him; Scalia gladly obliged, and the young groupie placed herself next to Scalia and handed her digital camera to one of the Law Lords. The image of one of the titans of the U.K. legal system fumbling with the digital camera in order to take a souvenir photo for one of Scalia's fans is a charming one -- and a testament to the Rock Star's good humor and generosity."*

Speaking of the British judges, in her original request for information, A3G expressed an interest in finding out whether they would show up in wigs. Alas, no. According to UTR's observers, "[a]ll the participants were wearing everyday suits," and nary a wig was in sight:

"Sadly, the British judges only wear wigs during ceremonial events (no details on what those were)."

"Interestingly enough, when the wigs are required, the women [judges] wear them, too."

And what about the substance of the discussion itself? Were there any funny remarks? Well, Justice Scalia participated -- so of course there were!

"The HLS Breyer/Scalia event was certainly enjoyable.  Your boy Scalia was in fine form, cracking jokes about the 'problems... er, opportunities with the Supreme Court.' Perhaps his best line came at the end when asked about the use of foreign law. His response: 'If you believe in this lovely living constitution idea, then, sure, use foreign law.  Use a Ouija board while you're at it.'"

OUCH -- now that was a bench-slap! Did Justice Breyer have a suitable response?

"Justice Breyer came up with some retort about how Madison read French-influenced books, which was received with much applause (it IS HLS). But I thought it was a relatively lame comeback."

A3G agrees. You are a genius, Justice Breyer, but clearly you're no match for Justice Scalia when it comes to sassy put-downs. So why don't you just go fetch some coffee for him?

Actually, perhaps Justice Breyer should count himself lucky -- Justice Scalia saved even more stinging bench-slaps for colleagues not present:

"At one point, Justice Breyer was discussing the varied backgrounds of the justices, and he pointed out that four of them had been professors: 'me, you (he was talking to Scalia), Ruth, and Tony, Tony Kennedy' -- at which point Scalia interrupted, 'He was an ADJUNCT professor.' SNAP! The room totally cracked up, and Dean Kagan looked taken aback."

Even if Justice Breyer couldn't go toe-to-toe with Justice Scalia in the humor department, Justice Breyer did make a funny (and rather UTR-ish) quip about the Court:

"Justice Breyer explained that the Supreme Court shouldn't take every single case because they think the country needs to hear them talk, even if the issue is settled -- or rather, that 'we don't have the last word because we're brilliant.' He then added, 'We are, of course, brilliant,' which made everyone laugh. So true!"

Yes, so true; federal judges are brilliant. And that's why we love them so much here at Underneath Their Robes!

* Justice Scalia is, by the way, well-known for being gracious and good-humored towards his fans. For example, he autographs items with liberality. Consider this anecdote by Jack Guggenheim:

A few years ago I wrote a law review article [available here, via the Chutzpah blog] on the use of the term "chutzpah" in published opinions (inspired in part by, and paling in comparison to the article by Judge Kozinski) that was published in the Kentucky Law Journal. The linchpin of the article is that Justice Scalia used the the term chutzpah in his opinion in Finley, the first time a Supreme Court Justice did so. (Jewdicious, in a posting by Ronald Coleman, gave a link to my "state of the art" Chutzpah law review article.)

A friend of mine was clerking for Justice Scalia at the time my article was published. He gave a copy of the article to the Justice, who read it and had the good humor to send it back to me signed, "Mazel Tov, Nino."

Pretty cool, huh? Whether you love or hate his views, you can't deny that Justice Scalia is frequently charming and gregarious (as long as you don't get on his bad side, in which case he becomes deliciously bitchy).

Nino loves to laugh; he has a temper; he's unafraid to show emotion. You never lose sight of the fact that Justice Scalia, despite his great legal mind, is a real human being. He's the polar opposite of Justice Souter -- now that guy is a total weirdo! (Or, as Jeffrey Toobin more charitably describes him, an "eccentric[].")

Judicial SIGHT-ation: Justice Breyer Is Less Funny Than Nino

Just to prove that Article III Groupie and her troop of loyal judicial groupies follow liberal judges around as well as conservative ones, here is a judicial celebrity sighting of Justice Stephen G. Breyer:

Justice Stephen Breyer stopped at Drake University [yesterday] afternoon to deliver a lecture at the Knapp Center. Justice Breyer drew a large, though not sold-out, crowd. Justice Breyer delivered a standard discussion of the role of the judiciary and his views. This address was part of the Opperman Lectures, named after Dwight Opperman, [former president] of West Publications.

Though not as engaging as Nino when he gave his Opperman Lecture, Justice Breyer exceeded expectations. Apologies to the fashionista of One First Street; I was unable to discern what he was wearing, since I was in the balcony. But I believe his necktie to be a Vineyard Vines tie.*

A3G thanks her reader for this report. In addition, check out the Des Moines Register account of the event, which contains this amusing discussion:

At one point, [Justice Breyer] joked that he continues to be the "junior justice" on the court, even though John Roberts is the most recent justice to be confirmed, because Roberts "goes in as chief justice, which is senior to me."**

One of his duties as junior justice is to open doors during private conference meetings and fetch coffee, he said. At a recent conference, Breyer said someone knocked on the door to give coffee to Justice Antonin Scalia, who remarked on how long Breyer had been the court's most junior member....

"I said, 'Yes, I've gotten very good at [coffee fetching],' " Breyer recalled. "And he said, 'No, you haven't.' "

OUCH! Did someone just get bench-slapped? And next time, Steve, Nino wants that pumpkin spice latte extra hot, no foam...

But despair not, Justice Breyer; help may be on the way. If President Bush's prediction is correct, you may soon be enjoying a venti caramel macchiato -- lovingly brought to you by the Pit Bull of One First Street!

(Hey, look on the bright side: at least Harriet Miers's experience as a Biglaw attorney, which surely entailed fetching coffee for the CEOs of her corporate clients at the start of meetings, has prepared her well for discharging this duty of a Supreme Court justice.)

* If the Vineyard Vines label rings a bell, it may be due to the fact that former presidential candidate John Kerry wore their ties frequently while on the campaign trail.

** Justice Breyer's explanation, by the way, confirms the correctness of this answer to this question, which was previously posed by Howard Bashman (as well as by several readers in emails to A3G).

(Multiple gavel bangs, for numerous links contained in this post: Howard Bashman/How Appealing.)

A Sold-Out Show: The Rock Star of One First Street!

As Article III Groupie previously reported, Justice Antonin Scalia will be serving as the Grand Marshal of this year's Columbus Day Parade in New York City. Before the parade, the Rock Star of One First Street will be attending a special Columbus Day Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

But if you were hoping to squeeze into that venue to catch a glimpse of Nino, A3G has some bad news for you: Justice Scalia playing St. Patrick's Cathedral is sold out. A New York-based reader offers this report:

Hi A3G. Yesterday I received a postcard in the mail that you would love so much, you would stick it up on the wall of your office. Taking up most of the front of the postcard: a pen-and-ink drawing of your hero, Justice Antonin Scalia!

On the back of the postcard was the following announcement:

Celebrate Columbus Day with Justice Antonin Scalia!

Come to the world's largest Columbus Day parade. Begin the day at St. Patrick's Cathedral at the Columbus Day Mass.

New York, NY -- The Columbus Day Parade begins at 11:45 AM and ends at 3:00 PM on Monday, October 10th, and is held on Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 79th Street.

Earlier that day, Mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral at 9:30 AM, and admission is by ticket only. For tickets call [number omitted] or email [email omitted].

As a good Article III groupie myself, I immediately called the telephone number on the card. You can imagine how heartbroken I was when the woman on the other end of the line informed me that the Mass with Justice Scalia was completely sold out. She said: "There's not even standing room left -- tickets went like hot cakes!"

So if you were hoping to kneel next to -- or exchange the "kiss of peace" with -- Justice Scalia, sorry! Unless you already have your ticket, it's not happening. But you can still line up on Fifth Avenue and watch Justice Scalia as he marches past, or maybe rides by on a float. (The $64,000 question: Will he be wearing his robe?)

Justice Scalia's selection as Grand Marshal of the NYC Columbus Day Parade dispels any remaining doubt that he is a celebrity in the truest sense of the word. Just consider some of his illustrious predecessors in this post: Frank Sinatra, Joe DiMaggio, Sophia Loren, Mario Andretti, and last but not least -- Susan Lucci!*

A special request to any UTR readers in the area: Please attend the Columbus Day Parade, and please keep your eyes peeled for the Rock Star of One First Street. If you can use your digital camera to take a photo of Justice Scalia -- which he can't complain about this time, since it is an outdoor parade, for crying out loud -- please email it to A3G. Thanks!

* And who is the Susan Lucci of the federal judiciary? As noted by Timothy Noah in his fun and fascinating Slate piece, "Susan Lucci in Judicial Robes," it's Fifth Circuit Judge Edith H. Jones. As revealed in Noah's article, the number of times that Judge Jones has been passed over for the Supreme Court is stunning -- and deeply disappointing.

Judicial SIGHT-ations: Ted Olson's Famous Fête!

A conversation between Article III Groupie and her fabulous mother, another stylish and strong-willed woman (but much too nice to be a true diva):

A3G: "Please, Mommy, please don't make me blog about Harriet Miers. She's boring!"

Mrs. Groupie: "But she's the person that everyone is talking about, Article. You must blog about her!"

A3G: "Even if I don't have anything interesting or funny to say about her?"

Mrs. Groupie: "Okay, fine. You've been a good girl lately, Article. Yesterday you got an incoming link from Instapundit, which will keep your site traffic numbers up for a while. So today, just this once, I'll let you blog about whatever you like!"

A3G: "Really, Mommy? Can I blog about some party that took place, like, three months ago, which was attended by a bunch of conservative federal judges? You know how much I love conservative federal judges!"

Mrs. Groupie: "Like I said, Article: today you can blog about whatever your little heart desires!"

Having received her mother's blessing,* A3G now brings you the latest installment in UTR's celebrity sightings column: Judicial Sightations: Ted Olson's Famous Fête!

Every summer, at his lavish Virginia estate, conservative super-lawyer and former Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson hosts an afternoon barbecue for the vast right-wing conspiracy. Some time ago, A3G received a detailed report on this year's festivities, which she meant to pass along to her readers many moons ago. Unfortunately, when your email inbox is flooded with over 900 messages, it's easy for things to fall through the cracks.

So, without further ado, here is our spy's report (with some editing by A3G to conceal her source's identity):

The BBQ is held every summer, during the weekend of the Federalist Society leadership conference. Ted Olson is kind enough to host all the Vast Right-Wing Conspirators in training every year.

This year's party was nothing short of fantastic. Lots of notable non-judicial attendees: Bill Kristol; Ted Olson, of course (who was in a cast because of a broken bone in his foot; by the way, at his annual Supreme Court roundup, he said that Justice Thomas's dissent in Kelo v. New London was perhaps THE best opinion of the Term); Olson's successor as SG, Paul Clement (and his wife); Labor Secretary Elaine Chao; and Christina Hoff Sommers (author of "Who Stole Feminism?", one of my favorite books).

When Elaine Chao is in the house, you know you've got a party! But there's more; we haven't even gotten to the best part. Our correspondent continues:

Of course, as your name suggests, I'm sure you'll be most interested in the judges, Article 3 Groupie. And there were tons of them!

The biggest judicial celeb in attendance was Justice Clarence Thomas. I went up to him and told him that his dissent in Kelo was inspiring. He smiled, slapped me on the shoulder, and said, "Thanks, buddy!"

CT's the kind of guy you'd love to just grab a beer and wings with. He was talking quite enthusiastically with some of the student FedSoc officers about college football and basketball. He also said some FANTASTICALLY humorous stuff, but that will be between you and me...

In terms of appeals court judges, about one-third of the D.C. Circuit was there, including one of your favorite jurists, Judge Janice Rogers Brown. Judge Brown is an extremely gracious, down-to-earth, and low-key woman. She has the kind of calm demeanor that just puts people at ease. She was there with her husband, Dewey Parker (who, contrary to news reports, isn't a "jazz musician," but a self-described entertainer and singer).

Gracious, down-to-earth, and low-key? A3G is disappointed; she was hoping that JRB would be diva-licious! So let's just pretend we didn't read that, and find out who else was at the party:

D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Doug Ginsburg was there, but I didn't get to speak with him. His colleague, Judge David Sentelle, was wearing a cowboy hat and smoking delicious-smelling montecristo cigars. Judge Sentelle is a long-time friend of Judge Paul Friedman (D.D.C.), from long before either of them was a judge.

Finally, there were also some non-Article III judges at the party, including two judges from the Court of Federal Claims: Judge Loren Smith and Judge Susan Braden. (Judge Braden's husband, Tom Susman of Ropes and Gray, is a Democrat and wasn't there; but their daughter was with Judge Braden.)

Fantastic! A3G wishes she could have been there. Ted Olson, one of the very best SCOTUS advocates, knows how to brief and argue a Supreme Court case like no one else. But he also knows how to throw a mean barbecue -- and how many legal luminaries can you say that about?

(Okay, fine, A3G will give you the obligatory current events hook: Does anyone know if Harriet Miers was at Ted Olson's barbeque? Her presence at a gathering of august right-wing conspirators might offer some clues into how she would vote as a Supreme Court justice. As the old saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together!" Or, to make use of A3G's expensive legal education, as Judge Richard Posner might want her to do: Noscitur a sociis!**)

* This conversation is a figment of A3G's overactive imagination. A3G's mother is unware that her daughter maintains a salacious blog of federal judicial gossip.

** A3G recognizes that Judge Posner wasn't taking a position as to whether women with law or other professional degrees should or shouldn't work; that wasn't the point of his post. Consider his response to various reader comments:

Some comments suggest that I want women to stay home, others that I want them to work. I merely want them to make an unbiased choice. The point of my posting was to make the economic point that rationing scarce places in elite professional schools on the basis of grade point average and performance on standardized tests may result in turning away applicants who might be more productive because they would have longer working careers.

Oooh, exciting, another opportunity for a current events tie-in: Does this mean that Judge Posner is fan of Harriet Miers? Miers, of course, is a woman who has eschewed motherhood in favor of a long and successful legal career -- a career that may, if everything goes her way, reach its climax at One First Street.

A Judicial SIGHT-ation Tomorrow: The Red Mass

Details here (Oct. 2 entry) and here. The annual Red Mass is always a great source of judicial sightations. For the UTR write-up of last year's Red Mass, click here.

Justice Antonin Scalia is expected to be in attendance at tomorrow's Mass. The Rock Star of One First Street was unable to attend Thursday's swearing-in of Chief Justice Roberts because he was in Avon, Colorado, teaching this CLE course sponsored by the Federalist Society. But Justice Scalia did make plans to return to D.C. in time for the Red Mass, which he attends every year.

To any Washington-based readers who can attend tomorrow, please keep your eyes peeled for any and all judicial celebrities. Pay special attention to what they are wearing and how they comport themselves during Mass (e.g., see if anyone falls asleep during Cardinal McCarrick's homily). Then write up your observations, and email A3G straight away!

(By the way, thanks to the many readers who responded to A3G's request for reports on the Breyer-Scalia event at Harvard Law School. She received tons of great material, and she'll be blogging about it shortly.)

Can Justice O'Connor Accept That Free Facelift?

Article III Groupie loves all of you, her readers and correspondents. When you send her fantastic emails that she can just reprint in their entirety in her blog, you make her job as a blogger so easy. You're not just readers of this blog; you are effectively a rotating cast of guest bloggers, who help out A3G when she doesn't have enough time to do her own writing.

On that note, here's the latest and greatest missive that A3G will just copy from her email account and paste into her blog:

Hi A3G. I was just writing to share you with an eyewitness account of the judicial sightation of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor at the annual meeting of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in Chicago [last] weekend. My father is a plastic surgeon, and my parents attended the conference, where they had the privilege and the pleasure of hearing Justice O'Connor's address. As a loyal UTR correspondent, I called up my parents and debriefed them fully about the event. [A3G previously blogged about SOC's speech here.]

My mother said that everyone greatly enjoyed Justice O'Connor's remarks, which she described as very interesting and surprisingly humorous. My mom, herself a world-class gossip, especially enjoyed SOC's salacious review of Justice [William O.] Douglas's succession of increasingly younger wives.

Justice O'Connor's attire, however, was less warmly received than her speech. My mother -- who is something of a fashion plate, as one might expect from the wife of a plastic surgeon -- pronounced SOC's outfit "hideous." My father quipped that the Justice's blue pantsuit "looked like pajamas," which caused my mother to opine that Justice O'Connor "would have been better off just wearing her black robe." My father then observed: "For the amount that they paid her, she should have gone out and bought a Chanel!"

What my father was referring to is the ASPS's history of paying six-figure speaking fees to the keynote speakers at its annual meeting. (This may constitute the answer to your other reader's question concerning why SOC was addressing a group of plastic surgeons.) Because the ASPS pays such generous honoraria, in years past they have snagged such marquee names as Secretary of State Colin Powell and General H. Norman Schwarzkopf to serve as their keynoters. Of course, for the well-heeled plastic surgeons, paying out this kind of money is "no skin off their noses"; rather, it's skin off their patients' noses!

Excellent! As you all know, A3G deeply appreciates commentary on federal judicial fashion, as well as gossip about how much Supreme Court justices get paid. So she was just loving this message. But this reader also had a more substantive query:

A question for you and any judicial ethics experts in your readership, A3G: Would Justice O'Connor have been permitted to accept a six-figure speaking fee or honorarium from the ASPS? And would the answer change if Justice O'Connor took in-kind payment from them, in the form of a facelift or eyelid lift? (I've never seen her in person, but I'm guessing that the well-aerobicized SOC requires no liposuction.)

I seem to recall that the outside income of Supreme Court justices, such as the income they earn for teaching at those cushy summer programs in Europe, is subject to a cap well below the $100,000 mark. I also know that when a justice speaks at a law school or before a group like the Federalist Society, she gets her expenses reimbursed, but doesn't usually collect a speaker's fee.

So at first I was thinking that Justice O'Connor would not be able to accept a gigantic speaker's fee from the ASPS. But I remember reading a few years ago that she received some award in Philadelphia that carried with it a $100,000 honorarium. So maybe she could have accepted such a speaker's fee? [This reader is presumably thinking of the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, which SOC won in 2003.]

If it turns out that justices are not allowed to take honoraria, why are they allowed to accept money in the form of book advances and royalties? If Justice O'Connor can't accept $100,000 in cash -- or the equivalent value in plastic surgery -- from the ASPS, why should Justice Thomas be allowed to accept a $1.5 million book advance? Structurally the two transactions appear indistinguishable: both are just accepting money in exchange for expressing their extra-judicial thoughts and insights.

Can you shed any light on all of this?

A3G started to research this issue, but then she ran out of time. So she will instead turn this inquiry over to her readership, which includes a number of judicial ethics scholars. If you can enlighten this reader (and A3G), please add a comment to this post. (You can also email A3G, but posting a comment will save her the trouble of editing and reprinting your message in her blog -- which might take a while, given her huge email backlog.) As always, thanks in advance for your input!