Call it a rare judicial “2-fer” in the capital city.
U.S. Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Stephen Breyer are in Columbia. On Friday, they spoke to attorney trainees at the USC School of Law. Today, they will address members of the South Carolina Bar at the group’s annual convention.
When they speak together, Scalia – widely viewed as among the court’s most conservative members – and Breyer – seen as liberal to moderate – square off over their approaches to the law and how that affects court rulings.
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The justices have held their exchange, which Breyer details in his current book, a couple of times in various cities. Neither Columbia event was open to the public.
“It’s one of the most entertaining civic discussions you’ll ever see,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, who extended the invitation last summer at the request of Bar president Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. of Greenville.
Graham, himself a lawyer, said Friday he was hoping one of the nine members of the court would accept, given the large number of requests for Supreme Court justices to speak publicly.
A couple of months ago, “I got a call from Justice Breyer and he said, ‘We’d be happy to come,’ ’’ Graham said of Breyer, 73, and Scalia, 75. “These are two great men who share differing legal philosophies.”
The senator called a stunned Quattlebaum. “‘How about two of them?’” Quattlebaum recalls Graham telling him.
It took Quattlebaum a few moments to regain his composure.
“I realized he wasn’t pulling my leg. This is not an easy thing to accomplish,” Quattlebaum said of the joint appearance.
With Scalia and Breyer, that raises to four the number of justices Graham said he has worked to bring to South Carolina in the past five years. Chief Justice John Roberts presided over a USC Moot Court case in 2006, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the speaker at graduation ceremonies in May.
As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that screens all Supreme Court nominees, Graham said he has come to know many of the justices.
“The reason I do this is I want to showcase our judiciary,” Graham said of the invitations. “I’m a rule-of-law guy. I think that the branch of government we know least about – and that’s how it should be – it’s healthy that they would come and explain how the law works.
“I like politics,” the state’s senior senator said, “but I love the law.”
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