Fireside Chat, RWU Law Style, With Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito spent Friday at the School of Law, meeting with students and faculty and teaching a Constitutional Law class
BRISTOL, R.I. â Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, spent the day at RWU Law Friday, meeting with students, teaching a Constitutional Law class and participating in a âfireside chatâ with the Honorable Ronald A. Cass, a longtime friend of Alito and a member of the law schoolâs board of directors.
After enjoying a light breakfast with Mr. Cass, Dean David A. Logan, and a few standout law students, Justice Alito entered a packed classroom to teach a Con Law class. He observed that the Courtâs October Term would begin in a couple of weeks, joking that he was, as ever, âfilled with hope that this will finally be the term when all of my colleagues see the light of dayâ â a hope that âbegins to fade five or ten minutes into the first case.â
Eschewing discussion of the Courtâs controversial 5-4 decisions, Alito chose to focus on three cases in which the Court unanimously upheld individual liberties over government interventions. One case involved electronic police surveillance of a drug dealer, one an action against a property owner in violation of the Clean Water Act, and one a labor dispute between a teacher and a religious school.
In each case, Alito observed, the government was pursuing âlaudable objectives; all things we want to see happenââ but in each instance the Court nonetheless ruled against the government, denying it powers âwith alarming implications if we accepted them.â
A student asked about the role of public opinion upon the Supreme Court, and Alito replied that â due to the Justicesâ life tenures â it mattered mainly during confirmation hearings. Listening to public opinion is âexactly what weâre not supposed to do,â Alito said.
Still, he noted, the Courtâs public approval rating hovers at around 40 percent, which beats Congressâs dismal ratings by âa comfortable margin.â He added that a recent poll showed that more Americans can name two of Snow Whiteâs seven dwarfs than can name two Supreme Court justices, and quipped, âI was just glad that people donât think Grumpy, Dopey and Sleepy are Justices on the Court!â
Justice Alito then met with 25 student leaders, discussing a range of topics including the highly publicized incident when cameras showed the Justice quietly responding âNot true!â when President Obama critiqued the controversial Citizens United decision during his 2010 State of the Union address.
âThis is my 15 minutes of fame,â Alito said of the incident, widely known among people who otherwise know little or nothing about him. He noted that even as a debater in high school, he would get marked down for making faces during his opponentsâ arguments. He said he did not realize that the press received an advance transcript of the address and thus trained its cameras on the justices at the very moment the President mentioned the Courtâs decision. If he had known, he would probably have kept a poker face.
Turning to less charged matters, Justice Alito answered a studentâs query about the methods by which Supreme Court justices reach rulings âthat at least five can agree on.â When the justices circulate a draft opinion among colleagues, he said, âwhat you want is a memo saying, âPerfect! Donât change a word!â What you get is, âif you take this or that [part of the opinion] out, Iâll sign.ââ
Justice Alito noted that he had âabsolutely no doubtâ that the Courtâs diversity would continue to grow, reflecting the changing fabric of the country, and opined against allowing cameras in the Court. âWeâre a very old-fashioned institution,â he said, adding that cameras would fundamentally âchange the structure of the arguments.â
On the one hand he referenced, disapprovingly, a television ad that attacked the Affordable Health Care Act by misleadingly using a voice recording of a government lawyer momentarily stammering during oral arguments at the Court. The ad characterized the audio clip as evidence that âeven the Presidentâs own lawyer canât even defend the constitutionality of this law.â On the other hand, he joked, most of the Courtâs less controversial cases would draw ratings even lower than C-SPAN broadcasts of Congressmen making speeches to an empty chamber.
Asked for career advice, the Justice noted that his own son had recently graduated from law school and said âattorneys have to be open to opportunities when they come up.â Regardless of oneâs specific career goals, âitâs helpful to have a degree of flexibility as your career progresses.â
The Justice also talked about the different skill sets required for trial lawyers and appellate lawyers. For appellate lawyers, he said, âitâs important to have a feel for the particular tribunal before which you are to appeal,â to become familiar with the judgesâ âzone of persuasionâ and adjust oneâs arguments to the âsignals and vibes you get as to whatâs working during argument,â just as a driver with a GPS might continually adjust his or her route to avoid traffic obstacles.
U.S. Supreme Court visits have become a tradition at Rhode Islandâs only law school, a rare accomplishment for an institution not yet 20 years old (that anniversary is coming up next year). In 2011, students enjoyed a similar visit from Associate Justice Stephen Breyer. In 2008, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia spent a day with students at RWU Law, and earlier that same year Chief Justice John Roberts addressed its students and swore in more than 40 of its recent alumni to the federal bar. Groups of RWU Law students have also met with Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy and retired Associate Justice Sandra Day OâConnor.