The Chief as teacher.

• Author: Ryan, James E.
• Position: Looking Backward, Looking Forward: The Legacy of Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice O'Connor - Testimonial

I interviewed for a clerkship with the Chief during the summer after I graduated from law school in 1992, and by that time I was pretty sure I wanted to become a law professor. I was still a bit shy about saying so, not because I thought it a bad job, but because I wasn't sure I was good enough for the job. The Chief asked me during the interview what I wanted to do with my life, and I told him, ready to supplement my response with caveats about not being certain I would get hired or would be any good at it. But as soon as I said I wanted to be a law professor, he asked, with a clear look of puzzlement on his face: "Why?" I was a little taken aback, as no one had asked me that before, or I should say no one had implied, by asking, that teaching law might not be a great choice.

In response I said something fatuous about loving law school and being intrigued by legal puzzles, which did nothing to alter the Chief's puzzled expression. I then said that I hoped some day to have a family and wanted to have a career that would allow me to spend time with them. An academic schedule, it seemed to me, would be flexible enough to afford me time with my children during their waking hours. At this, his face brightened, and he began nodding to signal that I had finally started making sense to him.

I have thought often about this exchange, because it captured a great deal about the Chief, as I later learned. As his skepticism about my career plans suggested, the Chief did not have much interest in or patience for grand academic theorizing. He admired lawyers who represented real clients and worked on real cases. His own opinions were typically short, to the point, and without pretense or repeated citations to law review articles. He clearly did not write for an academic audience, and his opinions were occasionally criticized by scholars for lacking a cogent theoretical base. Readers knew who won and knew the rule being established, but they would not always be sure exactly why or be able to explain why certain precedents were distinguished rather than followed.

Because the Chief never really played to the academic crowd, one of his most prominent features, to those who knew him, has often been missed or downplayed: his remarkable intelligence. The Chief was one of the quickest, smartest, and most knowledgeable men I've ever met. He had a photographic memory, and the pictures never faded. When we were discussing a case once, he suggested that I refer to a...