Legal News

Chief Justice Roberts: Nope to the $15,000; Yep to the Big House

By Ashby Jones

We’ve often wondered exactly how a law school goes about getting a Supreme Court justice to come speak or judge a moot-court competition. Is it all about a dean cashing in a favor? A bunch of back-channeled conversations? Big cash payments or just a whole lot of begging and pleading?

The mystery clarified a bit earlier Thursday, when we got wind of an article in the University of Michigan’s newspaper — the Michigan Daily — which linked to a letter sent by the law school’s dean, Evan Caminker, to Chief Justice John Roberts.

The letter, dated October 27, 2007, extends Roberts a formal invitation to the law school’s 150th anniversary weekend, to be held this upcoming weekend. The letter involves host of techniques: a little chestbeating, a whole lot of deference, an offer of a $15,000 honorarium and, yes, good tickets to the Michigan/Notre Dame football game this weekend.

Writes Caminker:

I recognize that you receive many more invitations to visit law schools that you can possibly accept, but I daresay that Michigan Law can offer you something no other law school can: a seat at midfield in the Big House!

. . .

We could be very flexible with respect to the nature of your actual participation in [the anniversary-related] activities. I would envision at some point a public address as part of the festivities — the presentation could of course be as substantive and formal as you would like, but it also would be perfectly fine if you would prefer to talk less formally about the legal profession, or the contribution of law schools, or something else appropriately tied to a ceremonial occasion . . .

We would pay your travel expenses, as well as those of appropriate travel companions (family, clerks, marshals), and we would offer a $15,000 honorarium as well.

According to the Daily, Roberts declined the $15,000 honorarium. "Please note, that the honorarium offer was extended as a courtesy and the Law School did not expect Chief Justice Roberts to accept it;" wrote the University's Freedom of Information Act Coordinator, Patricia Sellinger, to the Michigan Daily, "in a verbal conversation, representatives for the Chief Justice have confirmed that he will not accept the honorarium offer."

Still, Roberts accepted Caminker’s invite, and will be speaking on Friday morning at the Hill Auditorium (which is not part of the law school).

A message to the Supreme Court’s spokeswoman was not immediately returned.

And the football game? Yes! Margaret Leary, director and librarian of the Law Library at Michigan, confirmed to the Daily that Roberts will be attending. No word on whether Roberts will sing “Hail to the Victors!” in the happy event that Michigan pulls out a win — or if he’ll join the Irish fans in singing the Notre Dame Victory March, who did so through Ann Arbor back in 1993 (the Law Blog still has the scars to tell).

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on September 10, 2009 (boomark / email).