《Justices on the Job - NYTimes》.pdfVIP

13-7-26 Justices on the Job - NYT JULY 24, 2013, 9 :00 PM Justices on the Job By LINDA GREENHOUSE After Justice Samuel A . Alito Jr. took his seat on the Supreme Court in January 2006, replacing Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the court for the first time in its history was composed entirely of former federal appeals court judges. Justice Elena Kagan’s arriv al in 2010 changed that ; the former Harv ard Law School dean had nev er been a judge. But the concentration of former judges is striking and, as Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. described it late last month, “an historical anomaly .” The chief justice, himself formerly a judge on the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., mused about the impact of the court’s collectiv e résumé in an on-stage conv ersation with Judge J. Harv ie Wilkinson III of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit . The occasion was the Richmond, Va.-based circuit’s biennial judicial conference, traditionally attended on its closing day by the chief justice. The Supreme Court’s term had ended a few day s earlier, the justices handing down the final pair of rulings on same-sex marriage while most of the conference guests, my self included, were en route to the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. During the term’s closing day s, the court addressed three of the country ’s most salient social and political issues: affirmativ e action and v oting rights along with gay rights. Leading up to the chief justice’s arriv al, the air at the elegant resort was thick with chatter and debate about what the court had and had not accomplished during those memorable three day s in June. But protocol ruled out asking him about any specific case. So the diplomatic Judge Wilkinson tossed a softball, asking Chief Justice Roberts what difference it makes to hav e so many former judge