Books, Clarence Thomas, Clerkships, Federal Judges, Law Schools, Samuel Alito, SCOTUS, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court

An Afternoon With Three Supreme Court Justices

Over the weekend, Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Sotomayor participated in an extraordinary joint interview at their alma mater, Yale Law School.

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The day before he got turned away from Sunday brunch, Justice Samuel Alito and two of his Supreme Court colleagues, Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Sonia Sotomayor, received Yale Law School’s Award of Merit for their contributions to the legal profession. The three justices then participated in a great joint interview conducted by Professor Kate Stith.

We covered the proceedings on Twitter (see @ATLblog and @DavidLat), and we shared with you write-ups from Adam Liptak of the New York Times, Robert Barnes of the Washington Post, and Tony Mauro of the Legal Times. But for the SCOTUS devotees among you who are not yet satisfied, keep reading for even more about this very special event….

Professor Stith began by asking the justices what drew them to law and to the bench. Justice Sotomayor cited the constantly new and interesting problems that law presents. Justice Alito mentioned how he grew interested in the law through his father’s work as an advisor to the New Jersey state legislature. As for Justice Thomas, he never saw himself on the Supreme Court; he envisioned himself leading a quiet, private life. “But when the president calls,” he said, you can’t really turn down that call.

What traits have helped and hindered the justices on their way to One First Street? For helpful traits, Thomas mentioned his persistence and his ability to respect the opinions of others, even when he might disagree. Sotomayor identified her great power of concentration, which can be both helpful and harmful. It’s helpful when she is trying to get work done, but during oral argument, when she sometimes loses track of the world around her and drills down into the hapless advocate before her, it can sometimes come across as combative. As for what helped him make it to the Court, Alito cited the movie Being There, about a humble gardener’s accidental path to the presidency, and said that “being in the right place at the right time — that’s the best.”

The wide-ranging conversation did reveal some fun personal tidbits about the justices. Thomas is not a coffee snob; he favors Folgers and Dunkin’ Donuts. Sotomayor talked about salsa dancing, evaluating different types of Hispanic men based on their ability to lead:

“Among Hispanic men, the best dancers in terms of keeping a beat are Dominicans, the worst are Cubans,” Sotomayor continued. “Dominicans have big, big steps–”

A doubled-over and guffawing Thomas interrupted: “That’s profiling!”

“It is, but it proves itself right a lot,” Sotomayor continued. “Cubans have these very tight little steps. Never dance with a Cuban. And Puerto Ricans I can dance with, too.”

It was the perfect set-up for the conservative Alito, with whom liberal Sotomayor frequently disagrees.

“It’s a revelation to know that Sonia likes to follow,” Alito said. “I think we’re going to start dancing in the conference room.”

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Dancing wasn’t the only cultural activity that came up during the conversation. In response to questioning from Stith, the justices offered book recommendations. Justice Alito, for example, plugged the memoirs of his two colleagues on the stage: “I have two books that are inspirational. I keep them on a table by my bed, and I try to read a little bit of them every night. It’s ‘My Grandfather’s Son’ and ‘My Beloved World.’” Alito also praised Dubliners, Sotomayor gave a shout-out to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and Thomas cited Native Son. Thomas, a self-described introvert, also recommended Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. (All links to books in this post are affiliate links.)

Prodded by Professor Stith, the panelists shared memories from their Yale Law School years. This Alito anecdote was my favorite:

Alito had positive memories of Yale, he said, except for the time when he was arguing in a moot court and one of the judges “hammered me” by asking him the same question numerous times. When Alito asked to move on, the judge said, “You haven’t answered the question to my satisfaction.” Alito replied, “I’ve answered it to my satisfaction” and continued.

Sotomayor and Thomas talked about certain things they might have done differently. For example, both mentioned that they didn’t learn during law school about the value and importance of judicial clerkships. (Shameless plug: my forthcoming novel, Supreme Ambitions, is recommended reading for law students and young lawyers interested in clerking.)

Looking at their careers after law school and before SCOTUS, the justices picked out highlights. Thomas raved about his job working as a young lawyer for John Danforth when Danforth served as attorney general for Missouri. Alito, noting that being a circuit judge can be quite isolating, remembered with fondness his years as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, when he ran an office of 65 lawyers who were constantly seeking his counsel on matters. Sotomayor reminisced about her years as a district judge, saying that when she retires, she’d like to go back and sit on the district court, her “first love.” (This led noted conservative Ed Whelan to quip on Twitter, “Live your dream now.”)

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As for life on the United States Supreme Court, the justices talked about the formality and old-fashioned operations of SCOTUS. They don’t really use email, but communicate instead through hard-copy memos; they have assigned seats at lunch, the seats occupied by their respective predecessor justices; and they have spittoons next to their seats on the bench. But there are some signs of progress. Thomas, who according to Sotomayor is the most tech-savvy justice, tries to work paperless within his own chambers, even if he can’t when dealing with other justices’ chambers. “We have tracked changes at the Supreme Court,” he said.

Thomas and Sotomayor don’t see eye to eye on many things, but they did agree on the need for greater diversity among Supreme Court justices. Both lamented the relative lack of geographic diversity on the SCOTUS bench. Thomas criticized the heavy representation of Harvard and Yale Law grads on the Court. Sotomayor said that SCOTUS could use more lawyers who have practiced criminal-defense or civil-rights work and more lawyers who have worked for small law firms. (She and Justice Anthony Kennedy are the only two sitting justices with small-firm experience.)

One of the most fun parts of the interview involved Stith asking the justices to describe one another. Alito praised Sotomayor for her thorough preparation, not just on merits cases but on certiorari petitions too. Thomas praised Alito as “really smart, funny, principled, and a man of his word.” And Sotomayor praised Thomas for knowing the names of all the employees at One First Street, as well as “their families, their happinesses, and their tragedies.” She said that even though she and Thomas “might disagree on legal issues, we don’t disagree on the fundamental importance of people.”

Especially the brilliant, principled, yet deeply humble people who currently sit on the Supreme Court of the United States. Thanks to Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Sotomayor, for sharing their wisdom and wit with us this past weekend — and for their many years of service to the Court and to the country.

Three Supreme Court Justices Return to Yale [New York Times via Morning Docket]
Justices who graduated from Yale Law School hold court [Washington Post]
‘Never dance with a Cuban,’ Sotomayor says [Washington Post]
Three Justices Swap Stories at Yale Law School [Legal Times]
Supreme Court Justices Receive Award Of Merit [Yale Law School]
2014 Alumni Weekend Award of Merit Ceremony [YouTube]

Earlier: Justice Alito Turned Away From Sunday Brunch

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