See the U.S.A.

I forgot to flag one of my favorite moments from last week’s Roberts confirmation hearings. It occurred when one of the Democrats (I think it was Senator Feingold) asked Judge Roberts for his views on “junkets” by federal judges. Naturally, Roberts did not endorse junkets, but he noted that it was a good thing for Supreme Court Justices to get out of Washington, D.C. and visit other parts of the country. Roberts is nothing if not careful with his words, so I found it significant that he did not mention visiting other countries. Our liberal Justices are quite fond of visiting Europe where they can savor a smorgasbord of foreign law and legal thinking, and select their favorite delicacies for introduction into our legal system. Elsewhere in his testimony, Roberts criticized the importation of foreign law.
Roberts also mentioned that he likes to visit law schools and meet students. Again, although I’m sure that Roberts meets professors too, I appreciated the fact that he mentioned only students.