Underneath Their Robes

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.

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!)

Better Late Than Never: Brett Kavanaugh Confirmed to the D.C. Circuit

When Brett Kavanaugh was first nominated to the D.C. Circuit, he wasn't even married. Now he and his wife -- Bush's personal secretary, Ashley Estes -- have a college-age daughter.

(Okay, fine, it hasn't been that long. But Brett and Ashley's daughter, Margaret, is almost nine months old.)

After three long years, Brett Kavanaugh (AMK/OT 1993) -- a former law clerk to Judge Walter K. Stapleton and Judge Alex Kozinski, both of whom testified before the Senate on his behalf -- has been confirmed to the D.C. Circuit. The vote was 57-37. Congratulations, Judge Kavanaugh!

It's a good time of year to be joining the D.C. Circuit. Those judicial mandarins take the summer off -- just like the Supreme Court, a common destination for D.C. Circuit members. So Judge Kavanaugh will have a few months to get his chambers up and running before oral arguments start.

The rumor mill is saying that Kavanaugh may pick up some of the displaced Luttig clerks for next year. Can anyone confirm?

"The Elect": Are They Worth It?

Okay, maybe it won't trigger your workplace "porn alarm." But Article III Groupie "knows it when she sees it," and this is obscene.

A3G wrote this self-pitying rant almost two years ago. Some of you viewed A3G's remarks as exaggerated and over the top. What do you think now?

SIGH...

Random Fun Facts About Brett Kavanaugh

Yesterday Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the all-powerful D.C. Circuit was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, by a 10-8, party-line vote. This followed on the heels of Kavanaugh's recent testimony before the Committee on Wednesday, as part of his second confirmation hearing.

Kavanaugh, of course, is a member of the Elect; he clerked for Judges Walter Stapleton and Alex Kozinski, en route to Justice Kennedy (OT 1993). Via the Washington Post, here are some fun facts about him:

--"Kavanaugh's ties to Bush were strengthened when he played a major role in the legal battle over Florida's fiercely contested 2000 presidential vote. He later joined the White House counsel's office and then became staff secretary, where he oversees all paper that goes into the Oval Office. Two years ago, he married Bush's personal secretary, Ashley Estes.

--"His mother, Martha, was a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge. His father, Edward, also a lawyer, headed the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Association for two decades."

A UTR source commented to A3G: "I wasn't surprised to hear that [Kavanaugh's] dad was a lawyer for the cosmetics industry. Did you see how much make-up Kavanaugh's mom wore to his hearing?"

With all due respect to Judge Martha Kavanaugh -- who is surely a superb jurist and an amazing mother -- A3G can't help noting:

Wearing excessive make-up is so state-court-judge...

More on Judge Luttig Flying Off to Boeing

As one of you noted in the comments to this post, Jess Bravin and J. Lynn Lunsford's article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal is a "must read." (Gavel bang for pass-through link: How Appealing.)

(Random bit of trivia: as noted here, Bravin is the brother of one of the Elect, Eric Bravin, who clerked for Justice Ginsburg during October Term 2000.)

Here are some highlights from the article:

On Nov. 22, U.S. Circuit Judge J. Michael Luttig was at work in his chambers here when he received a telephone call telling him to switch on the television. There, he saw Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announce that the government would file charges against Jose Padilla in a federal court -- treating the accused terrorist like a normal criminal suspect.

The judge was stunned. Two months earlier, he had written a landmark opinion saying the government could hold Mr. Padilla without charge in a military brig. (Read the opinion.) The decision validated President Bush's claim that he could set aside Mr. Padilla's constitutional rights in the name of national security. The judge assumed the government had a compelling reason to consider the suspect an extraordinary threat. Now Mr. Gonzales wanted the courts to forget the whole case.

It didn't take long for the judge's anger to burst out into the open. The next month he wrote that moves such as the attorney general's cast doubt on the Bush administration's "credibility before the courts." Judge Luttig tried to block Mr. Padilla's transfer to civilian custody from the brig. (Read the opinion.) The administration's top litigator fired back that the judge "defies both law and logic."

The clash, which underscores the increasing skepticism among even some conservative jurists toward the Bush administration's sweeping theories of executive power, culminated yesterday in Judge Luttig's resignation. The 51-year-old judge, once considered a likely Bush nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, stepped down from his lifetime seat on the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to start a new career in Chicago as general counsel for Boeing Co.

WOW. As one of you accurately noted in an email to A3G, Luttig comes off in the article as alternating between "petty and principled."

And check out this, from later on in the article (after a lengthy recitation of the procedural history of the Padilla case, which A3G will spare you):

People familiar with Judge Luttig's thinking say he knew his condemnation of the administration [in one of his Padilla opinions] would bring a personal cost but he believes that judges must apply the law regardless of its political implications. These people say he has been disillusioned by the encroachment of politics on the judiciary -- and the view that judges are on "our team" or "their team."

People close to the Bush administration see it differently. They dismiss Judge Luttig's opinion as a judicial tantrum, noting that it came after he was passed over three times for a Supreme Court position. President Bush nominated Judge Roberts, Harriet Miers (who withdrew) and Judge Samuel Alito.

Interesting, interesting stuff... More to come, as A3G goes through her inbox...

Breaking: The Original Luttigator Is Outta Here!

Judge J. Michael Luttig, perennial Supreme Court short-lister and feeder judge extraordinaire, is stepping down from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He's heading off to become vice president and general counsel of Boeing. KA-CHING!

Details here (Legal Times) and here (Washington Post). WOW!!!

Article III Groupie's guess as to Judge Luttig's thinking: "Since it's looking increasingly unlikely that I'll get a Supreme Court nomination anytime soon, I'm packing up my toys and going home. Hasta luego!"

(Of course, Judge Luttig could still get nominated to the SCOTUS from Boeing; but it would be much less likely.)

The text of Judge Luttig's resignation letter to President Bush -- which has a paean to Boeing that sounds like it was ripped straight out of the company's annual report -- is available here (pdf; via Law Blog). Here's an excerpt:

The Boeing Company is an American icon. There is just something larger than life about the company. From the global travel it enables through its commercial aircraft, to the contributions that it makes to our military preparedness and space exploration, its work and its products completely capture the imagination.

And earnings-per-share for the first quarter of 2006 increased 33 percent, to $0.88 per share, while net income increased 29 percent, to $692 million...

Inquiring minds want to know: What will happen to his current clerks? And what about the ones he's hired for the coming judicial year?

A3G's guess: the current Luttigators don't have that much time before they have to report for the start of October Term 2006 -- maybe just a few weeks. So they can just take a nice little vacation, basking in the glory of their imminent apotheosis to the Court, and resting up for the rigors of life at One First Street.

As for the hired-but-not-yet-started Luttig clerks, who will never get to call themselves "Luttigators," they'll probably have to scramble for new jobs. But given their credentials and brilliance, it shouldn't be too hard for them to find gainful employment. (A3G would be happy to hire one of them as her intern.)

If you're in a position to provide more detail on the Luttig resignation, in addition to what appears in news accounts and Judge Luttig's letter, please email A3G. Comments from Luttigators -- many of whom are UTR readers and sources -- are especially welcome.

More to come -- as Drudge likes to say, "developing..."

Justice Is Blind: Chloe Schama's Ken Doll, Unmasked

Over the weekend, Article Three Groupie asked for your help with this blind item:

Chloe Schama, wore a red-and-white zebra-print frock. Ms. Schama, 22, writes for The New Republic.  She went to Harvard. She resembles Claire Danes but is prettier. Her father is someone (the historian Simon Schama), as is her boyfriend, a dapper fellow in a tuxedo with slicked blond hair who clerks for a Supreme Court justice.

A3G asked you: Who's the boyfriend? And several of you responded.

As it turns out, Schama's boyfriend is not a Supreme Court clerk. Schama is dating Michael Pyle, who currently clerks for the venerated D.C. Circuit. And not for just any ol' judge, but the Honorable Merrick B. Garland, a.k.a. "the Luttig of the left" (in terms of his track record as a feeder judge).

During this current Term, five Garlandistas are breathing the rarefied air of One First Street. So A3G wouldn't bet against Pyle eventually joining the ranks of the Elect.

Dear Chloe: You have a famous father, a Harvard degree, and dazzling beauty. But you do not yet have the ultimate prize: a boyfriend who is a Supreme Court clerk.

A3G's advice to you: Just be patient. Hold on to your Michael Pyle stock -- he sounds like a real keeper -- and watch it appreciate, until he gets picked up by one of the justices. It's only a matter of time!

Justice Is Blind: Chloe Schama's Ken Doll

It has been months since the last installment of "Justice Is Blind," in which Article III Groupie offers you delicious blind items of judicial gossip, or reveals the names from the blind items of others.

Today's item centers on a recent New York Observer article about the D.C. conservative party scene. Here's the text, about a gorgeous gal and her boy toy (one of the Elect, natch):

One of those arrivals [from the glamorous White House Correspondents' dinner], Chloe Schama, wore a red-and-white zebra-print frock. Ms. Schama, 22, writes for The New Republic.  She went to Harvard. She resembles Claire Danes but is prettier. Her father is someone (the historian Simon Schama), as is her boyfriend, a dapper fellow in a tuxedo with slicked blond hair who clerks for a Supreme Court justice.

Inquiring minds want to know: Who's the stylish blonde hunk who served as Chloe Schama's arm candy?

If you know, or have a good guess, shoot A3G an email. Thanks!

UTR News and Views: A Few Quick Links

Article III Groupie is back (again), after ignoring this blog and her UTR email account for over a week. By way of explanation, she was out of town for a few days. But now she's back, and ready to get back in the game.

Unfortunately, A3G has a ton to catch up on. So she's going to do her best impression of Glenn Reynolds, a.k.a Instapundit, and take a "brevity is the soul of wit" approach to blogging. She'll to link to a bunch of different and interesting things, but with minimal commentary. Here goes:

• Hilarious and bizarre (scroll down, fourth paragraph). The Capitol File staffer who introduced the two told A3G it was "the most awkward two minutes of my life."
• Justice Samuel Alito has hired one of his former circuit clerks, Mike Lee, to clerk for him at the Supreme Court (October Term 2006). Lee is the son of former Solicitor General Rex Lee.
• Ouch. Well, Vanessa L. Bryant is but an icky state court judge.
• For D.C. Circuit nominee Brett Kavanaugh, one of the Elect (OT 1993/AMK), things are looking much better. Word on the street is that the rehearing will be a kabuki show and that Kavanaugh will be easily confirmed (after the Democrats get the chance to scold him on TV for things he had nothing to do with).
• If you thought A3G's story from last fall about Judge Harry T. Edwards was apocryphal, think again.
• Judge Howard Thomas Markey (Fed. Cir.), R.I.P. One of his former colleagues, Chief Judge Paul R. Michel, noted that Judge Markey could get by on only four hours of sleep a night. (That, by the way, is the secret to career success. Alas, A3G can't do it.)

More to come, as A3G continues to catch up on the world of judicial news and gossip.