Preview Wrap-up

The Institute of Bill of Rights Law's 20th annual Supreme Court Preview officially concluded about an hour ago with the panel of Michael Gerhardt, Jeffrey Rosen, Dahlia Lithwick, Carter Phillips and Michael McConnell discussing the apparently over-hyped concept of judicial modesty. They described why — at least in the sense that most journalists, academics and politicians think of judicial modesty — it is at best, meaningless, and at worst, a terrible philosophy for a judge to use. The discussion is a poignant one, considering the ascension of Chief Justice John Roberts, who told the Senate two years ago this week that judges must assert humility and modesty from the bench. Couple those comments from Roberts' confirmation hearing with the criticism he got from fellow Justice Antonin Scalia last term in the political ad free speech case, called Wisconsin Right to Life: "This faux judicial restraint is judicial obfuscation." Not exactly a ringing endorsement of Roberts' "modest" style.

I've tried to make that all as simple as I could, but it gives you some idea of the level of academic discussion here for the last day and a half. These are some of the brightest legal minds in America, and they all willingly assemble at William & Mary once a year to glean as much insight as possible from one another. 

I've been assigned to write two stories about the Preview — one about a talk yesterday afternoon by Erwin Chemerinsky and Pam Karlan, two of the best liberal constitutional law scholars in the U.S. The other story is about the Moot Court last night, a fantastic simulation of what it's like to argue before the real Supreme Court. I had a front-row seat, and I was blown away by how smart and talented these people really are. The whole weekend has been a humbling reminder of how far I have to go before I could ever think, speak or write on a par with the best of the best.

The conference unofficially concludes tonight with a dinner for the participants at Professor Van Alstyne's house, which I happily get to attend. 

I've only been through three weeks of classes but I can already feel the semester flying by. Time seems to disappear so much faster these days, no matter how well I budget it. Soon it will be fall break (a four-day weekend), then the rush to finals. Yikes. Slow down, world.