My Favorite Supremes List:
Best name ever: Bushrod Washington (runner-up: Felix Frankfurter) (No, there’s not a theme there. Whatever would give you that idea?)
Best Hometown Boy: Byron “Whizzer” White–went to the University of Colorado (Woo!)–I include his nickname because he hated it, and he was the only Democratic appointee to dissent from Roe v. Wade. (the poop)
Best Case Ever: Marbury v. Madison–gotta go with the source of judicial review here, without which the vast majority of other influential cases would never have seen the court at all. Thank you, John Marshall, for helping the Judicial branch grow a pair.
Best Supreme Allusion to It’s A Wonderful Life: Potter Stewart, justice from 1958 to 1981
Best About-Face: Hugo Black (formerly a member of the KKK who became a proponent of desegregation) (also gets honorable mention in the name category for irony)
Best Babyface: Joseph Story, who at age 32 became (and still is) the youngest appointee to the Supremes (that was in 1811). (Little known fact: also the first Supreme to get the swirlie. It was in the Potomac, as flush toilets had not yet been invented.)
Best Web Source on the Supremes:SCOTUSBLOG! It’s one of the most unintentionally silly blog names ever, but dang it’s cool.
Best Use of Latin by Supremes: Stare decisis, meaning to stick with what has been decided. It just always makes me think of my mother giving me the “Don’t even try it, missy!” look.
Here’s hoping Sotomayor is confirmed post-haste so David Souter can spend more time with his family. (What? He has no wife and kids? Then why’s he retiring? David, you can come see me. You can tell me all about how annoying Scalia is…)