Alito is Right. Perceptions of the U.S. Supreme Court Differ From the Reality.
WEST PALM BEACH – Using a mix of jokes and drawing on his own experience, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito said Monday that being a judge at the nation’s top court is often not what it appears to be.
“A lot of people, I think, have the impression that sitting on the bench and listening to oral arguments is the main thing we do,” Alito said to a crowd of 1,120 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.
“If people were to see me really at work, it would not be a particularly edifying spectacle,” added the 63-year-old New Jersey native. “They would see me at my computer at eight in the morning in my pajamas.”
— Perceptions of U.S. Supreme Court differ from reality, Justice Samuel Alito says in West Palm Beach, Brett Clarkson, Sun Sentinel
Hmmm. And to think I thought that the justices spent most of their time reading those specially-printed-and-bound-at-a-cost-of-$5,000-to-$7,000-per-case certiorari petitions. At least the ones whose covers bear the name of $1,000’Hr.-D.C.-Based-Supreme-Court-Specialist as counsel. Or the ones filed by state attorneys-general challenging federal-court grants of habeas petitions.
Guess the justices have some time left over to do other things, like prepare for oral argument in cases whose petition covers bore the name of $1,000/Hr.-D.C.-Based-Supreme-Court-Specialist as counsel. Or like signing on to opinions that summarily reverse federal-court grants of habeas petitions at the behest of state attorneys-general.
This week while he’s in his pajamas at a luxury hotel in Palm Beach. Maybe next week, too. The justices don’t meet again for another two-and-one-half weeks.
Yes, perceptions of the U.S. Supreme Court differ from the reality.
Well it does take a while to read all those conservative/radical right blogs and all those emails from lobbyists and still manage to eat breakfast before being driven to the court and use up all that energy pretending to be fair.
JacjD
I salute your comment
I do not like the current make up of the Court or for that matter the make up of many of the Courts of Appeal and State Supreme Courts and I think the Supreme Court has made some truly awful decisions in the last 20 years, just as it has since the Constitution was adopted, but I guess I really do not have a problem with the number of cases the Court hears, nor do I have a problem with the members getting driven to work.
I miss Justice Stevens. I don’t think there was anyone better at exposing the Emperor’s lack of new clothes. Since I retired from the Public Defender’s Office I can’t seem to make myself read a Supreme Court opinion. It’s amazing how they can be disheartening, hypocritical, and boring all at the same time. As a trial lawyer I never suffered the illusion that the Supreme Court knew [or cared?] what was happening in trial courts, but now they seem to live on another planet where ordinary Americans don’t exist.
Zane:
As JackD, Beverly, and I (not an attorney while the other two are), the days of Gideon and a handwritten letter to SCOTUS are long gone.