The Justices of the Supreme Court were not born wearing the black robes of the highest court in the United States. They were lawyers first. As lawyers, some of them were among the historically tiny fraction of American attorneys who have had the honor to argue before the Supreme Court. For a few of them, they had that honor more than a dozen times.This episode of Extra Scrutiny focuses on five justices who argued cases as attorneys at the Supreme Court before they joined it. Four of them are still serving today.
There are over 1 million attorneys in America. Almost none of them will ever get to argue a case before the US Supreme Court. But for those who do, it is a high honor. Some of the Court's own members have had that honor, including four current Justices.