NYT Highlights Justice Kagan’s Visits to Chicago-Area Law Schools

CHICAGO --- Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan’s visits earlier this month to Chicago-area law schools -- including Northwestern University School of Law -- were highlighted in The New York Times.

An item in the Times’ “Supreme Court Notebook” focused on the insider advice Kagan gave during her Chicago law school visits about how tough it is to argue before the Supreme Court and how important it is for attorneys to have highly specialized experience to make their cases effectively.

According to the Times, Kagan criticized lawyers who argue their first Supreme Court case on behalf of criminal defendants, adding that “those lawyers should turn over their cases -- even if it means forgoing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to argue at the Supreme Court -- to experienced appellate lawyers who specialize in high-court work.” 

Kagan visited Northwestern University School of Law Feb. 3 as the Howard J. Trienens Visiting Judicial Scholar. During a lively discussion on stage with Northwestern Law Dean Daniel Rodriguez, Kagan covered a lot of ground, from a behind-the-scenes look at how closely she works with her law clerks to her surprising perspective about the collegiality of the court. While taking questions from students as well as Rodriguez, she also shared why she attends the State of the Union address, her thoughts on the need for diversity on the court and her experience clerking for civil rights icon and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Marshall, she said during her Northwestern Law address, is the “greatest lawyer of the 20th century -- bar none -- not even a close contest.”