“Judicial Independence”

John Sexton, President of New York University My wife Lisa, our daughter Katie, and our son Jed were with me for that conference in Florence. Jed was the gofer. Lisa sprained her ankle and had to come home, so Katie, then seven, was a host. She, this little girl, stood next to me as the vans with the justices came up the long, tree-lined road that brought them to the main villa. I said, “Now, when the justices get out, you just curtsy and say ‘Buon giorno; welcome to La Pietra.’” Little Katie said and did just that as Justice O’Connor got out of the van. In her own magnificent way, Justice O’Connor embraced this little girl. Justices Ginsburg and Breyer were there too, and Justice Ginsburg spent a lot of time with Katie over the three days. But it seemed Justice O’Connor’s hand was always in Katie’s hand. When Katie came home, she brought with her Justice O’Connor’s cardboard name card from the conference. She put it on her desk, and when she got to the third or fourth grade and had to pick a person from all of history to be and to present a biography, she chose Justice O’Connor. A friend came over and saw this card on Katie’s desk and asked her about it. Katie, now about nine, said, “Oh, Justice O’Connor, she’s a friend of mine. She’s invited me to come down to Washington, and we spent a lot of time together. And there was this other Justice, Justice Ginsburg, and she was very nice, too.” Finally she said, “I didn’t spend a lot of time with Justice Breyer, so I can’t tell you