Supreme Court of Tomorrow: A VERY speculative look at the Roberts court -- in 2035
Jenny Martinez. (AP Photo/HO)
Caitlin Halligan. (AP Photo/HO)
R. Ted Cruz. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)
Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Kannon Shanmugam. (AP Photo/Lawrence Journal-World)
Jeffrey Fisher. (AP Photo/HO)
Rachel Brand. (AP Photo/HO)
Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
There's a lot of talk about a new era in the Supreme Court, with 50-year-old John Roberts becoming America's youngest chief justice in over 200 years and President Bush nominating Harriet Miers to fill yet another open slot on the court.
But soon enough, that'll all be old news. Ever looking into the future, asap wonders: Who else will be in the Roberts court when the chief justice is, say, 80?
asap hit the books and came up with dozens of young candidates for the Supreme Court of the future, whittling the field to eight names after some judicious deliberation. Many of them have served as clerks for the court or are already esconced somewhere in government. Others have grabbed attention for what they've done in front of the nation's highest court.
Speculative? Definitely. Snagging one of the most honorable jobs in the American political system has a lot to do with serendipity. But it also requires talent, know-how and integrity, and it's with these characteristics in mind that asap has selected its lineup of associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court for 2035.
Rachel Brand
Birthday: May 1, 1973
Job: Director of the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Policy
Education: University of Minnesota, Harvard Law School
Experience: President Bush legal team in Florida (2000); assistant White House counsel (2001); law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (2002); assistant attorney general (2003-2005)
Random fact: At age 26, Brand served as general counsel for Elizabeth Dole's failed presidential campaign in 1999.
R. Ted Cruz
Birthday: Dec. 22, 1970
Job: Texas solicitor general
Education: Princeton, Harvard Law School
Experience: Law clerk for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist (1996); Bush-Cheney 2000 consultant (1999-2000); associate deputy attorney general (2001); director of the Office of Policy Planning for the Federal Trade Commission (2002).
Random fact: Cruz went before the U.S. Supreme Court and successfully defended keeping a 6-foot granite monument of the Ten Commandments at the Texas Capitol.
Viet Dinh
Birthday: Feb. 22, 1968
Job: Professor, Georgetown Law School
Education: Harvard, Harvard Law School
Experience: Law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (1993-1994); assistant attorney general for legal policy at the Department of Justice (2001-03)
Random fact: Dinh was the brains behind the USA Patriot Act while serving as assistant attorney general.
Jeffrey Fisher
Birthday: Sept. 24, 1970
Job: Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine
Education: Duke, Michigan Law School
Experience: Law clerk for Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens (1999)
Random: Fisher won two cases before the Supreme Court in less than a year. He had never argued a criminal case before winning Crawford vs. Washington in November 2003; he went back before the court and won Blakely vs. Washington in March 2004.
Caitlin Halligan
Birthday: Dec. 14, 1966
Job: New York solicitor general
Education: Princeton, Georgetown Law School
Experience: Law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (1997-98); bureau chief, Internet, New York attorney general's office (1999-2001)
Random fact: Halligan shot down Court TV's attempt to bring cameras into New York courtrooms in June.
Jenny Martinez
Birthday: Nov. 5, 1971
Job: Professor, Stanford Law School
Education: Yale, Harvard Law School
Experience: Law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (1998-99); associate legal officer, U.N. International Criminal Tribunal (1999-2000); attorney, Jenner & Block, LLC (2000-03); senior research fellow and visiting lecturer, Yale (2002-03)
Random fact: Martinez was selected to represent imprisoned terrorist suspect Jose Padilla. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court ruled in favor of the Bush administration's right to hold suspects without charging them with a crime. Martinez is appealing the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Barack Obama
Birthday: Aug. 4, 1961
Job: U.S. senator, representing Illinois
Education: Columbia, Harvard Law School
Experience: Illinois state senator (1996-2004); senior lecturer, University of Chicago Law School (1993-2004)
Random fact: Obama was the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review in 1991.
Kannon Shanmugam
Birthday: Nov. 15, 1972
Job: Assistant to the U.S. solicitor general
Education: Harvard, Harvard Law, Oxford
Experience: Law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (1999)
Random fact: Shanmugam was the first person of color to clerk for Scalia.
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