Supreme Court Watch Supreme Court justices' summer break activities and housekeeping tasks Sotomayor was in the Bronx; Scalia was in Italy; Kagan readies to join the bench

By Kimberly Atkins The Daily Record Newswire So, what do the justices of the U.S Supreme Court do during these summertime months when the Court is not in regular session? Some head to their hometowns, like Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Speaking at an event Saturday at Lehman College in her native Bronx, Sotomayor told a group of children that, in a way, she is really just "Sonia from the Block." Like her friend Jennifer Lopez, Sotomayor explained, she too can be called "J.Lo." "I'm the justice of law and order from the Bronx," Sotomayor joked to the group of children participating in the Bronx Children's Museum's Dream Big Initiative, according to the New York Daily News. Justice Antonin Scalia, on the other hand, spent part of the summer at a more distant locale: Italy. There he taught a course as part of the overseas program of Loyola University's Law School. And according to one student, he was a hit -- despite his reputation for being tough. "We didn't know if he would be mean," student Lauren Anderson, told the Illinois-based Southtown Star. "He's really funny and sarcastic. He definitely keeps you interested in the class." The Court's newest member, Justice Elena Kagan, wasted no time preparing for next term. She has already hired her law clerks, The National Law Journal reports. Justice Samuel Alito did a little work as well -- and it raised a few eyebrows in the blogosphere. But just because Alito referred a request for a stay by Orly Taitz -- a persistent litigant in the so-called "birther" movement who is fighting a $20,000 court fine -- to the full Court doesn't mean Alito is questioning President Obama's citizenship. "The Justices have a policy of referring these second requests to the full Court so that applicants don't succeed in cherry-picking who will hear their stay requests," Tom Goldstein, a lawyer and publisher of SCOTUSblog, told TPMmuckraker. And while we don't know where Justice Stephen Breyer was on Sunday, we do know that he turned 72. Happy Birthday, Justice! ---------- On Monday, in addition to ending the bid by birther lawyer Orly Taitz to toss $20,000 in court-imposed sanctions, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt with some housekeeping matters -- inducing noting some cases in which Justice Elena Kagan will not take part. The Court made notations in three pending cases from which Kagan will recuse herself, reports SCOTUSblog: One case, Staub v. Proctor Hospital, asks when an employer can be held liable under a "cat's paw" theory of employment discrimination, where the unlawful intent came not from the ultimate decisionmaker but from a non-decisionmaker who influenced the decision. In Michigan v. Bryant the remaining Court will decide whether a shooting victim's statements to police shortly before his death constituted inadmissible testimonial statements under the Sixth Amendment. The state court ruled the statements were inadmissible under Crawford v. Washington. And in Henderson v. Shinseki, the court will decide whether the 120-day time limit for a veteran to seek judicial review of a final agency decision denying the veteran's claim for disability benefits constitutes a statute of limitations subject to the doctrine of equitable tolling, or whether the time limit is jurisdictional and therefore bars application of that doctrine. During her confirmation hearings, Kagan indicated about a dozen cases from which that she would be recused, and that number can grow depending on what other cases the Court agrees to hear next term. In all, experts expect the total number of recusals to be around 20. Published: Thu, Aug 19, 2010

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