Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Southwest Virginia lawyer in the U.S. Supreme Court

Monday morning I had my day as a spectator before the U.S. Supreme Court.

My impression was mostly how close the spaces were, how normal and reasonable both the questions and the answers were, how relatively unobtrusive the security was, how friendly the Clerk was to the new admittees. It was more like going to court any other place I've been than, say, attending the Opening of Parliament. Also, with all the justices in a row, their faces and voices familiar to me from television but never having seen them together, it made me think of how when I was a kid I especially liked the announcement of the starting line-ups for baseball's All-Star game, all the great players standing right next to each other on the base lines.

I won't comment on the substance, except that Justice Breyer did note that the language "any entities" in 47 U.S.C. 253(a) does not include absolutely anything, pointing out the example that it does not include "any fish."

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