Last week former chief justice Warren E. Burger was reminiscing about his years on the Supreme Court before a group of local judges, law students, and law professors at John Marshall Law School. He talked about the time in 1969 when it was his turn to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a time when there were no TV cameras to worry about. He only remembers one of the few questions he was asked, which had to do with something Burger felt might come before him on the court. “It was inappropriate for me to answer,” he said, echoing nominees before and since.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
It didn’t appear that the law school had hosed down the front sidewalk, as it had a few weeks before for the visit of Justice Antonin Scalia. But then just before Scalia’s visit the school had had messy work done on the outside of the building. The school did remove a big modern bookcase filled with books written by faculty members from the entry hall, and replaced it with a classic dark credenza and a vase of flowers that gave the hall a tight-assed Americana feel.
In the same dull monotone he observed that the kind of “hardball politics” that accompanied the Clarence Thomas hearings is nothing new, and said that even a perfunctory study of early American history would show that men such as justices John Marshall, John Rutledge, and Samuel Chase were embroiled in controversial hearings. Though because people couldn’t see the hearings, only a few knew how scandalous some of the alleged actions of these men really were.
In answer to one of the last questions put to him, Burger said disgustedly that special-interest groups with narrow political agendas who want to amend the Constitution accordingly are “emotionally maladjusted people who have no other way to handle their problems.” It was the most emotion he had shown all afternoon. Suddenly his face became impish. “But I’m not going to wrap myself in the flag, because I’m afraid I might get burned,” he said, chuckling, and then explained that he often tells this joke.
