Dear Diary

Tom has a new diary post up. There he cites a WSJ Opinion Journal article as evidence that Clarence Thomas is his own man. I find the argument underwhelming to say the least. He also cites Jeffrey Rosen's recent article-cum-interview with Justice John Roberts, which is great, and argues that Roberts is staggeringly smart and could be one of the great chief justices. While I think it is seriously premature to come to any such conclusions on the latter point, Roberts is staggeringly smart. But almost all Supreme Court justices are staggeringly smart. Scalia may be a gasbag, but he is brilliant. I have been able to spend time in small groups in person with Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer, and both are insanely intelligent. I have done so on three occasions with David Souter who is, hands down, the smartest person I have ever encountered. Intelligence is usually (though not always) the coin of the realm for Supreme Court justices.

He also amusingly pillories Nickelback simply by quoting the lyrics of one of their songs in full. Though there was a song of theirs in the last year or two that I thought was pretty good and had a great video. But their earnest frat rock certainly warrants mockery, and Tom is up to the challenge.