Scalia Day

Today my law journal hosted Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia for our symposium on Chevron, a landmark administrative law case.

I realized just how good of writers he and his clerks must be, because the tone in his written opinions is exactly the same as when he speaks. The "voice" is dead on. Justice Scalia is just as snarky, funny, and blunt in person as the hundreds of opinions (mostly dissents) I have read during law school. As much as I love administrative law, it can be a pretty dry area of the law; yet Scalia still found a way to get riled up about things and keep us laughing.

This event seemed to be a very fitting close to my law school career. Not only was there a Supreme Court justice at my last major law school event, all the characters from my first year section managed to obtain some of the few seats open to general students. My Con Law professor who got Justice Scalia to speak also moderated the panel and called on people for questions, just like class. And just like first year, the two main gunners from our section asked their long questions while the leftist/fight-the-man activist protested in the back. Crazy as some of these people are, the event would not have been the same without them--especially since it was fun watching Scalia shoot down the gunners (no pun intended) knowing that Scalia was one himself in law school.

Now I have seen two justices speak in person, only seven more to go.