In DC, it's all about who you know. And I know my sister-in-law on the Senate Judiciary Committee. So last night I got the call, informing me that I got to attend John Roberts's Supreme Court confirmation hearing today.

I think the significance of it all lies more in the fact that I was there, as history was being made, rather than anything that actually happened.

After all, I walked away with the firm conviction that a Supreme Court hearing is really nothing more than a law school exam on steroids.

Seriously. There was very little, if anything, that Roberts was asked during the one hour I was there that I wasn't taught in law school. Of course, I didn't remember it all. He did. He got the case names and the doctrines and the factors to consider when deciding whether to grant certiorari (which he pronounced "sersh-uh-RARE-ee," not "sersh-yo-RAH-ree" like we did at Harvard) all very quickly and lucidly. And of course, this was a closed book, oral exam, with TV cameras focused tightly on his every move.

What was funny was when Senator Leahy went into the galleries off to the side, while Roberts was talking, to take a picture of the scene with his own digital camera.

Frankly, I don't think it would have been nearly as interesting if I hadn't been to law school. No wonder the country as a whole has a hard time caring about these hearings, and no wonder the only other Supreme Court confirmation hearing I even recall anything about is Clarence Thomas's, and that's because of something that has nothing to do with the law.

So what I'm saying is that I knew (or once knew) the answers to most of the questions. That means I'm fairly qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice. I might need notes to refer to, unlike Roberts, but I could do this. If I were ever asked a question that I didn't know the answer to, I could just say, "Frankly, I don't think it would be appropriate for me to state an opinion on that matter," and I'd be off scot-free!

President Bush, you can reach me via the email link on the sidebar.