Introduction

Abstract

Introduction Melvin I. Urofsky We note with great sorrow the passing of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. During her tenure on the Court, she was a friend of the Society, Journal, and also of its editor. Few members of the high court have been the focus of such great personal renown in the outer world; in fact, the only other justice I can think of who had a movie made about them would be Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. As is our custom, we mark the passing of a justice with two brief articles, one by a colleague on the bench and the other by a clerk. Justice Clarence Thomas, who served with Justice Ginsberg throughout her tenure, writes about the esteem, respect, and affection she enjoyed while on the bench. Ms. Ruthanne Deutsch clerked for the justice in the 2007 Term. One recalls the picture of the justice’s coffin being carried up the steps of the Supreme Court, with her former clerks lined up as an honor guard on either side. Ms. Deutsch is currently an attorney in private practice in D.C. We also note that the longtime executive director of the Society, David Pride, has retired after four decades of service to the Society. When I became editor, David was not only a mentor but became a friend. His wisdom in guiding the Society, and facilitating the move into its current quarter, will be long remembered. We wish him and his wife many years of a happy and healthy retirement. Our regular selection of articles once again displays how broad the subject of Supreme Court history has become; it also displays the wealth of talent that is tied to the Court and to the Journal. The first article, about the color of the justices’ robes, is by Matthew Hofstedt, who is the Associate Curator of the Supreme Court. We often take for granted that the justices’ robes are black, and in recent years when Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist added some stripes, and Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ginsburg added lace collars, the basic robe remained black. Was it always that way? Mr. Hofstedt gives us an answer. A number of years ago when I was researching a book, I asked Justice Ginsburg a question involving judicial ethics, i.e., what could they do extrajudicially? She sent me to the office that answers these questions for the Court, and I was told that this question—and its answers—have changed over time. Our managing editor, Clare Cushman, who is also the Society’s Director of Publications and Resident Historian, wrote in the last issue about how William R. Day hired his sons to [End Page 5] serve as his law clerks, then called “secretaries.” It turns out that Justice Day’s sons also practiced before the Supreme Court, with their father recusing most, but not all, of the time. While this would cause great alarm today, it apparently did not upset bench, bar, or the public in those days. Tom C. Clark is an often underrated member of the Supreme Court, remembered primarily for the fact that he resigned in order to make it possible for President Lyndon B. Johnson to appoint Clark’s son Ramsey as Attorney General. What is not as well known is what happened a few years later, when Johnson wanted to get rid of Ramsey. Craig Alan Smith, professor of history and political science at California University of Pennsylvania, tells us that story. Professor Smith is currently at work on a much-needed biography of Clark. We have two student essays in this issue. The first is by Rachael E. Jones, a law student at the University of Virginia who wrote this article under the mentorship of Professor Micah Schwartzman. The Rosenberger case is one that is taught in nearly every constitutional law course, because it marks, although not always clearly, a shift in the Court’s Establishment Clause jurisdiction. Ms. Jones agrees that the case is an inflection point, but she also points out that there is a great deal more involved in the case, much of it unrelated to jurisprudence. It is a case in which we really do...