Civility and SCOTUS

Anthony Marcum at The Hill:

So what’s the secret to the Supreme Court’s civility? The justices may tell you it’s simple: Spend more time with your colleagues. In interviews, the justices have spoken fondly about the court’s commitment to group lunches, birthday parties and “pre-State of the Union feasts.” And through these experiences, many of the justices have developed strong friendships. Perhaps the most interesting friendship to develop in recent years was between Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the late Justice Antonin Scalia. They served together on the court for over 20 years and, during that time, while Ginsberg and Scalia rarely agreed on hot-button issues, they were nonetheless known to vacation and attend the opera together.

Members of Congress should take note. This is not to say that members should start booking joint vacations to Bermuda or grabbing tickets to see La Traviata at the Kennedy Center, but congressional leaders should strive to promote greater collegiality among members. After all, collegiality was not always exclusive to the Supreme Court. Indeed, there are plenty of anecdotes of congressional members in past decades fighting on the floor and then retreating together to the many bars and restaurants that surround the Capitol.

This sort of collegiality shouldn’t only take place behind the scenes. The Supreme Court is a good example of this precept. On argument days, although the justices often interrupt the advocates before them, they usually refrain from interrupting each other. Furthermore, when advocates cleverly dodge a question presented by one justice, another justice will occasionally use their time to return to an issue previously raised by their colleague. And unlike members of Congress, justices do not sit according to ideology. Instead, justices sit according to seniority, which offers some interesting legal pairings: President Trump’s appointee, Justice Neil Gorsuch, for example, sits next to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s first appointee.