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Supreme Court history

By Steven R. Minor

Via John Q. Barrett, here are the proceedings of a conference of former Supreme Court clerks, discussing the 1950-1951 term, and including therein some general background of the Justices and their work.

Among the tales told is this one, about Justice William O. Douglas:

"On the thirteenth anniversary of his joining the Court, he had a little cocktail party in chambers just for those of us who were on staff. He made martinis the way he used to make them for FDR and told us about how times were back in the ?30s in Washington where he?d been working. He remembered I?d grown up in Kansas City, Missouri, and so he recalled that he had a speaking engagement there one time and took his dog Frosty with him and was going to stay at the best hotel in town. When he got there, the hotel refused to admit him because he had his dog. So the two of them ended up in a motel. When the Chamber of Commerce found out, they were so embarrassed they sent a case of dog food to Frosty. Douglas said that thereafter, Frosty would never eat any other kind of dog food."

Full post as published by Southwest Virginia Law Blog on January 13, 2009 (boomark / email).