Oh no he didn’t… Oh yes he did! Check out this account of yesterday’s Supreme Court argument, by the AP:
Longtime Harvard law professor Arthur Miller (at right)… was arguing on behalf of shareholders who want to sue companies for fraud. Miller is a frequent television commentator, prolific writer and possibly the inspiration for an abrasive professor in a popular account of life at Harvard.
Justice Antonin Scalia and Miller were contemporaries at Harvard Law School in the late 1950s. Miller graduated in 1958, two years ahead of Scalia.
Scalia clearly was on the side of the companies, chiming in from time to time to make Miller’s difficult task a bit harder.
After one remark, Miller let loose: “Is that because you never met a plaintiff you really liked?”
OUCH. And it must have been ten times better in person:
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There was laughter and an “ooh” from spectators. Justices Stephen Breyer and Clarence Thomas laughed for several seconds, even after arguments resumed.
Miller, perhaps sensing he crossed a line, quickly added, “I took a liberty there with the justice.”
You sure did, Professor Miller — but it could have been worse. E.g.: “Yo mama is so stupid, she relies on legislative history!”
Scalia and Harvard Law Professor Trade Barbs in Court [AP via Law.com]