Judicial groupie

I've become a law nerd. Or more specifically, a judicial groupie.

After coming back from China, I prepped myself for law school by reading Gideon's Trumpet and Jeff Toobin's The Nine. The Nine opened up the mystery of the world of the "Supremes," as popular blog "Underneath the Robes" calls our Nation's Highest Court. I became addicted to all the juicy gossip and little stories here and there about the very human judges presiding over the law of the land. When C-SPAN aired their Supreme Court week and featured rare on-camera interviews of all the justices, I gave up studying time just to watch 3 hours of close-up footage of the justices' chambers, the pictures they have of their clerks, the room where they sit and discuss cases in complete confidentiality, the room where they put on their robes and judicial collars; it's all so revealing, like the judicial version of Entertainment Tonight! :D

Ever since high school, when we went to D.C. on a civics lesson trip, I've been mesmerized by that place where women's privacy rights and minorities' affirmative action programs are decided. Too bad we never got a chance to hear oral arguments b/c the line was too long to get in. I hope one day, I'll be able to return to D.C., hear an oral argument, and stand/sit in close proximity with our nation's legal superstars. Their lives are more mysterious than that of Hollywood celebs.

Not only that, I just emailed a NY friend about the new Chinese American nominee for Justice Sotomayor's empty seat on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. I used to email her interesting stories about art, fiction and food, but now I'm emailing about judges! I'm a legal nerd already.