SCOTUS Oral Arguments

I hopped out of bed (after two snoozes) on Monday morning at 4:45 full of nerves about whether or not we would make the arguments. Only the first 50 people in line are guaranteed seats so the early bird gets the worm. I am not a naturally born early bird. This time, though, it was Jackson who was not feeling the early morning. I guess because this was a dream of mine and not his. Who knows?!

EARLY morning views of the Supreme Court building

The sun finally came up!

Stunning.

We got ready and grabbed an Uber to the courthouse by 5:30 a.m.. Well, as close as we could get to the courthouse. You could not get close to much due to the funeral for President Bush. We got to line and were numbers 31 and 32!!!!! SUCCESS.

Once we’d locked in our spots and the hour hit when a Starbucks would be open, Jackson went to get coffees and sandwiches while I held our spots.

We were in line with two brand new attorneys from West Virginia. Ah, youth. They're still excited about the impact they think they'll make. I don't kill dreams outwardly, but I am now an inward cynic. Age does that to you. There was a government teacher in line who was so similar to Uncle Charlie that I began suspecting he was a distant relative! There was a young paralegal from California who could hardly deal with the cold. It was quite a group. Even though we had to wait over two hours in the cold (roughly 50 degrees) with the sun not even coming up until after 7:00, the time went fairly quickly.

SO EXCITED TO BE GOING IN!
*Uncle Charlie like teacher with the purposeful photo bomb*
See what I mean about a distant relative?! ;)

They eventually let us in the building and through security. We then had to kill about an hour in their cafeteria before being let into the courtroom.

See those chairs? They push them together and put you in a line.

The seats they give you are horrid. What a bummer. It was the tiniest chair imaginable. We were squished in like sardines. They make you put everything into a locker so you’re without a phone which is basically naked. At right about 10:00 a bell rang and in came 9 of my favorite government employees.

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

The justices sit in order of tenure with the Chief at the middle

We sat at the back left of the courtroom so we looked right at Justice Gorsuch.

From our vantage point the bench looked like this:

Justice Gorsuch looked vibrant and Jackson called him a silver fox. He seemed super friendly and likable. He exuded his Colorado roots.

Justice Sotomayor had on a lot of gorgeous bracelets and seemed very personable. She looked much younger than her 64 years.

Justice Breyer looked like every old attorney. He was quite vocal, though, and very engaging.

Justice Thomas, my current favorite, did not disappoint. He leaned back in his chair. He looked annoyed. He chatted with Breyer. He was awesome. (He has quite the reputation for hating oral arguments.)

Chief Justice John Roberts was a handsome devil and I do mean devil. He was very tough on the attorneys arguing before them. He was very sharp and I was quite impressed by him. (He’d not been high on my list since I thought Scalia should have been named chief and because he called the Affordable Care Act a tax when it was obviously not something the IRS should have been burdened with administering but I digress.)

Justice RUTH BADER GINSBURG was the tiniest, mightiest woman. She still seemed very intelligent, but her body seems to be betraying her and her words were very hard to understand. I really wanted to see arguments while she was still on the bench because she has been pivotal in women's rights.

Justice Alito was much more fiery than I anticipated. He was also handsome, but now I wonder if I just have a thing for judges? ;) He certainly did not look to be 68!

Justice Kagan was very vocal and seemed approachable and fair. She also seemed genuinely interested in getting to a fair resolution.

Justice Kavanaugh started out a little iffy for me because his first question seemed to be one of someone who just wanted to hear himself speak. I loathe people like that in meetings. After that, though, he bounced back and contributed some interesting arguments to the discussion. He seemed the most nervous which made sense. It was also striking how young he looked compared to most of his fellow justices. At age 53, he is the second youngest (behind Justice Gorsuch who has white hair which makes him appear older) justice and though his confirmation process probably accelerated his need for Botox, he still looked like a kid compared to the others.

The case was what they call a “dog” because it was boring. I disagree. It was about whether or not West Virginia could tax Federal law enforcement officers’ retirement payments while exempting state law enforcement officers’ retirement payments from state tax. Each side got 30 minutes to argue their point. The petitioner had two attorneys present and the second was much more dynamic than the first. The respondent, West Virginia’s Solicitor General, was just appointed late in the summer and had to suddenly argue before SCOTUS. She went to Harvard Law School and graduated near the top of her class. You could not tell. That sounds harsh but her appearance was terrible. She looked unkempt and had a hard time piecing together arguments. Repeatedly she contradicted herself. It felt like she thought she could just fake her way through arguing before the Supreme Court. That does not work and she got shredded. Though they do not announce their decisions on the same day, I have a feeling they will rule against West Virginia.

We opted not to stay for the second and final oral argument of the day due to the squished nature of our seats. Also, since I am short and was in the back of a flat room, my neck was hurting from straining. I had seen what I wanted to see so I bid my 9 pals farewell.

We took a quick tour of the building to see some of the paintings of favorite justices before heading back out to move on with our day.

Scalia. The absolute best.

Thurgood Marshall was another
excellent justice!

Sandra Day O'Connor was the first
female justice so she'll always be an
inspiration

The sun had finally come out and it was a gorgeous day. We walked to the shuttle bus to our hotel, grabbed some lunch at Shake Shack (yum) and even ate outside (in December!) before heading back to our room for a nap!

A view of the harbor from our room

You can see the floating ice skating rink! So cool!

After our nap we had to leave the fancy hotel. It is inexpensive-ish to stay there one weekends, but weeknights are insane due to business travelers. We moved to a Holiday Inn in the city center so we'd have an easier to walk to sights. 

That evening I bundled up and Jackson proclaimed he'd be fine without a coat and we set out. We stumbled upon a gorgeous church with its doors open so we popped in half to warm ourselves up and half to see the decor.

Stopped to see a church, of course

We did a little shopping as Jackson has a big presentation on Thursday and wanted a new outfit. We grabbed a quick dinner and then went out to check out more of the city. I always love to see the White House but it was extra locked down this evening. Bummer!

One side

The other!

As close as they let us get!

It turns out that Jackson was cold without a coat. Imagine that. We ended up being weenies and calling an Uber to get us back to the hotel as we'd gotten a couple of miles away and were too cold to walk all the way back.

It was incredible to get to see oral arguments. I've loved the Supreme Court since at least sixth grade when my middle school was renamed for Justice Thurgood Marshall and I was selected to be one of the presenters at the naming ceremony. You guys, I still remember a lot of my speech about how important his achievements were and that was a LONG time ago.  Even now I often read SCOTUS opinions for both work and just to be an informed citizen so it was just a real treat to be there in person. A huge thank you to Jackson for suffering through a cold and early morning to make this nerd's dream come true! I love you!