Last weekend, Associate Justice Samuel Alito spoke at our Inn of Court. It was pretty cool. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, the chance to hear a Justice of the US Supreme Court is nothing to sneeze at—especially out hear in Wyoming. Justice O’Connor came to the University of Wyoming about four or five years ago, and Justice Scalia will be speaking at our bar conference next month, but that’s it in recent memory.
Justice Alito was charming and entertaining. He stayed away from any hot-button issues—most of his comments were simply anecdotes about the operation of the Court. His significant comments were about “let[ting] judges be judges.” It was not entirely clear precisely what he meant, but my interpretation is that he was objecting in part to the politicization of the judicial branches—perhaps through judicial elections.
Overall, it was quite a fun evening, and far more intimate than the bar convention will be given that the number of people there was far less than I anticipate will attend Justice Scalia’s talk at our bar convention keynote.
Leave a comment