Supreme Court Justices Thomas ’74, Alito ’75, and Sotomayor ’79 Receive Award of Merit

United States Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas ’74, Samuel A. Alito, Jr. ’75, and Sonia Sotomayor ’79 sat before a crowd of people Saturday, October 25, discussing their views and thoughts on the law.

But on this occasion, the Justices were not behind a bench, in robes, listening to legal argument. Instead, the three Justices—all of whom graduated from Yale Law School—were sitting before a crowd of former classmates and other alumni as they received the Yale Law School Association’s Award of Merit for their contributions to the legal profession. The ceremony was the centerpiece of the 2014 Alumni Weekend, which featured festive meals and engaging panels examining the theme of “Judging.” 

WATCH VIDEO OF THE EVENT

During his introductory remarks, Dean Robert C. Post ’77 lauded the Justices for their extraordinary contributions to the substance of American Law.

“The tale of each of these Justices is a quintessentially American story, a story of upward mobility; of hard, relentless work; of staggering achievement; and of great inborn talent,” said Post. “In different ways, and in the name of different ideals, each of our honorees has already left an indelible mark on the shape of our common jurisprudence.”

The Justices were candid, humorous, and thoughtful during the 90-minute discussion moderated by Lafayette S. Foster Professor of Law Kate Stith. They discussed their lives on and off the bench, including their time at Yale, their passions in life, and their feelings about one another.

“I got to Yale and I learned a deep sense of humility because sitting next to my classmates, listening to them, taught me how much smarter so many other people were and how smart has different faces,” recalled Sotomayor.

“When I left Yale, I had a sense of how bright or how much others knew and how much I needed to learn to be where they were,” said Thomas. “And that would take years.”

Justice Alito reminisced about his time on Moot Court, and how he still marvels that he made it through one final round despite his blunt interaction with a Judge on the case.

“He kept hammering me with one particularly question,” said Alito.

“And then I said I would like to move on to my other argument. He said you haven’t answered my question to my satisfaction yet. And my response was, well I’ve answered it to my satisfaction,” said Alito as the crowd laughed. “This was an incredibly open-minded person who let me move on to the next round after that.”

The Justices also talked about their personal sides, like their passions for sports, traveling, and Salsa dancing.

“I can’t keep a beat to save my life,” said Sotomayor, talking about how for 50 years she always sat by and watched others dance the Salsa. “And I finally decided, you know this is something that I just want to change. So I took lessons. And I found out that I totally cannot keep a beat to save my life, it doesn’t matter what I do, I can’t keep a beat, but I have a facility that some of my colleagues would find very strange... I can follow."

“If my partner can keep a beat and I can see it, I can follow,” added Sotomayor, as the audience laughed.

“It’s a revelation to know that Sonia likes to follow,” quipped Alito, as he sat next to her smiling. “I think we are going to start dancing in the conference room.”

Clarence Thomas told the crowd about the motor coach that he and his wife have driven across the country.

“We’ve been doing it for 15 years. We’ve been through Connecticut, Massachusetts, other parts of New England, Upstate New York, and the West and South, and it is an amazingly beautiful country,” said Thomas.

He also described a time right after Bush v. Gore when he was driving the motor coach down to Florida and re-fueling at a truck stop. “You all probably don’t recall that case,” Thomas said as the audience laughed.

“I’m refueling—which is an interesting experience—with all the 18 wheelers and one of the truckers walks by and says to me, did anybody ever tell you, you look like Clarence Thomas. I said, oh yeah. He said I bet that happens all the time, doesn’t it?”

The Justices also talked about each other, and the deep sense of respect each Justice has for the other members serving on the court, no matter how deep their disagreements run.

“Sonia is very independent, she is very thorough in her preparation, not only on the merits cases, but on the hundreds of cert petitions that we discuss,” said Alito. “She is very strong in her views and she doesn’t give up on the rest of us even when she sees the majority is going off in the wrong direction. She has hope that she can convince us, and she makes good arguments and sometimes she succeeds.”

“Goodness, she never gives up,” said Thomas, with a laugh.

“Sam is really smart, really funny, very principled, and a man of his word,”
said Thomas, speaking about Justice Alito. “I tell my law clerks often that reputation is hard to build and easy to lose, and I think with us, Sam has a wonderful reputation of integrity and honesty and he’s really a funny guy.”

“Clarence knows the name of every employee in the courthouse from the lowest position to the highest, and with virtually all of them, he knows their families, their happiness, and their tragedies,” said Sotomayor.

“We may disagree on a lot of legal issues, but we don’t disagree on the fundamental value of people, and you can respect someone who you disagree with legally if you start with that foundation in principle.”

Since 1957, the Yale Law School Association, the alumni organization of Yale Law School, has presented the Award of Merit annually to an esteemed graduate of Yale Law School or to a person who has served as a full-time member of the Yale Law School faculty for at least ten years.

Previous recipients of the award include Eugene V. Rostow ’47, Gerald R. Ford '41, William J. Clinton '73, and Hillary Rodham Clinton ’73.