Momentous cases (and menial tasks) on docket for Barrett, high court's junior justice
New Justice Amy Coney Barrett will help decide cases on abortion, Obamacare and voting law — and also serve as notetaker, doorkeeper and delegate to cafeteria committee.
By Joseph Curl
Updated: October 27, 2020 - 7:49am
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is the newest member of America's highest court, and while she will have the weight of the world on her shoulders, she's got three other jobs as the junior justice: note-taking, answering the door, and sitting on the court's cafeteria committee.
"Before arguments next Monday, the justices are scheduled to hold their private conference, at which they decide which new cases to take on, on Friday," said a prominent court watcher who asked not to be identified.
"Presumably she would participate in this," the watcher said. "As the junior justice, she's responsible for answering the door and taking notes (it's just the nine justices; no staff or clerks).
That's right, the junior justice takes all the notes and answers the door. When they're all in the conference room — which Justice Elena Kagan calls the "real inner sanctum" — there are two doors. Kagan said there are no exceptions to the rule of who answers the door.
"Literally, if I'm like in the middle of a sentence — let's say it's my turn to speak or something — and there's a knock on the door, everybody will just stare at me, waiting for me to open the door," Kagan told The Washington Post. "It's like a form of hazing. So, that's what I do, I open the door. Pronto."
That will now be Barrett's job. But as a mother of seven, she's probably used to that.
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https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/junior-justice-supreme-court-barretts-responsible-taking-all-notes
