Legal Commentary

Okay, so I was a little off.  Stunningly wrong, actually.  This is why they don't pay me the big bucks.  Then again, people pick the Cubs to win the World Series every year and still get paid the big bucks.

I want to ask the prawfs community a question. 

We have already seen a lot of punditry on whether Judge Sotomayor has the intellectual chops necessary to be a good Supreme Court Justice, and we can expect to see much more.  (As I argued in my previous post, I think she obviously does.)

Lurking in the background of this debate is an unstated assumption that being a Supreme Court Justice is an extremely difficult job that requires intellectual capabilities that only a few of even those most obviously qualified possess.

My question is simple: how smart do you really have to be to be a good Supreme Court Justice?  And, as a follow-up, exactly what is it about Supreme Court judging that requires this level of brilliance?