Chapter 1
Quirky traditions and unusual habits of the bench
Chapter 2
Unbelievable backgrounds of the justices
Chapter 3
Trailblazers and historic firsts
Chapter 4
Oddities, off-duty hobbies, and strange cases
Ch 4 · Oddities, off-duty hobbies, and strange cases
schopenhauer Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg actually performed on stage in a professional opera production.
Quiz
What did Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas do to protest a proposed highway in 1954?
Quiz
Who wrote a comic opera based on the friendship of Justices Scalia and Ginsburg?
schopenhauer Supreme Court Oddities
Sewed four gold stripes on his robe! (Yeah, on his robe!) / To match that Gilbert and Sullivan show! (Oh, what a show!)
schopenhauer Rumors once circulated that a justice kept a pet alligator in the Supreme Court building.
Quiz
Which justice was briefly detained by police during a 1919 labor strike in Boston?
Quiz
Which justice was known for his love of collecting comic books with his grandchildren?
Fun Fact
The opera about justices: Composer Derrick Wang wrote a comic opera called 'Scalia/Ginsburg' based on the two justices' famous legal disagreements and close friendship.
BETA
schopenhauer Decode quirky courtroom clues to discover the secret history of Supreme Court justices.
Quiz
What did Justice Hugo Black's family have to do with his personal diaries after his death?
Quiz
Which liberal justice shared a legendary, opera-loving friendship with conservative Antonin Scalia?
Glossary
hobby (noun)
An activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure. Chief Justice William Rehnquist's love for operettas led him to add gold stripes to his judicial robes.
An activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure. Chief Justice William Rehnquist's love for operettas led him to add gold stripes to his judicial robes.