Who is the most educated Supreme Court Justice?

[TheBeardedOne]

I know this definitely is subjective since the amount of education and degrees you have doesn't necessarily mean you know more about or are any more of an expert than someone with less degrees in said field. I am just curious to see who you guys think is. I was on Neil Gorsuch's wiki page and found out he had a Law Degree (duh), and a PhD in Law from Oxford. Seems very impressive. Anyone compare or surpass him?

[IndustrialJustice]

Ben Sasse has five degrees from Ivy League institutions. Who cares.

[Calthrina950]

Ben Sasse has five degrees from Ivy League institutions. Who cares.

I agree with this. Degrees do not necessarily indicate intelligence. There are many people who have fewer, or no degrees at all, who have a lot more common sense and practical knowledge than those who do have degrees.

[Torie]

More salient to me, is how well you did when securing the degree, and from where, rather than the number of degrees. For example, Justice Roberts graduated summa cum laude (the top of his class) from Harvard College, and magna cum laude (near the top of his class) from the Harvard law school. I find that impressive, very impressive. Graduating at the top of your class from one of the most selective universities on the planet, is no mean feat.

[IndustrialJustice]

More salient to me, is how well you did when securing the degree, and from where, rather than the number of degrees. For example, Justice Roberts graduated summa cum laude (the top of his class) from Harvard College, and magna cum laude (near the top of his class) from the Harvard law school. I find that impressive, very impressive. Graduating at the top of your class from one of the most selective universities on the planet, is no mean feat.

So did Obama, who managed that GPA while serving as President of the Harvard Law Review and a research assistant to Laurence Tribe, who was at the height of his publishing frequency and Supreme Court litigation practice in the late '80s. Yet a huge number of legal conservatives still regard the guy as an intellectual fraud.

Grades are overrated, though; so is the school. I care about what you do with your law degree.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

I continue to be the most impressed with Kagan's intellect. Distilling complex legal thought into easily digestible opinions reflect, to me, more on one's intellect than accumulation of letters after a surname. Kagan is the spiritual (if not ideological) successor to Scalia's incredible written opinion skills.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Ben Sasse has five degrees from Ivy League institutions. Who cares.

I agree with this. Degrees do not necessarily indicate intelligence. There are many people who have fewer, or no degrees at all, who have a lot more common sense and practical knowledge than those who do have degrees.

Cruz and Bush are further examples.

[Calthrina950]

Ben Sasse has five degrees from Ivy League institutions. Who cares.

I agree with this. Degrees do not necessarily indicate intelligence. There are many people who have fewer, or no degrees at all, who have a lot more common sense and practical knowledge than those who do have degrees.

Cruz and Bush are further examples.

Examples of people without common sense but with degrees?

[junior chįmp]

More salient to me, is how well you did when securing the degree, and from where, rather than the number of degrees. For example, Justice Roberts graduated summa cum laude (the top of his class) from Harvard College, and magna cum laude (near the top of his class) from the Harvard law school. I find that impressive, very impressive. Graduating at the top of your class from one of the most selective universities on the planet, is no mean feat.

So did Obama, who managed that GPA while serving as President of the Harvard Law Review and a research assistant to Laurence Tribe, who was at the height of his publishing frequency and Supreme Court litigation practice in the late '80s. Yet a huge number of legal conservatives still regard the guy as an intellectual fraud.

Grades are overrated, though; so is the school. I care about what you do with your law degree.

John Roberts is so smart....he used the wrong data in Shelby vs. Holder

Oh wait...nevermind, he's just full of shít like the rest of the SCOTUS judges

[KingSweden]

I continue to be the most impressed with Kagan's intellect. Distilling complex legal thought into easily digestible opinions reflect, to me, more on one's intellect than accumulation of letters after a surname. Kagan is the spiritual (if not ideological) successor to Scalia's incredible written opinion skills.

Agreed. She’s easily my favorite Justice (and apparently Scalia admired her to the point that he recommended her to the Obama team when Stevens retired)

[Orser67]

Gorsuch and Kagan are the only ones who have graduate degrees aside from JDs or LLBs (which were commonly awarded instead of JDs back in the day). Kagan received a master's from Oxford, while Gorsuch received a PhD, so technically Gorsuch wins.

But really, I'm not sure how impressive it is to have a JD and a PhD versus just having a JD.

[gerritcole]

alito

[IndustrialJustice]

Gorsuch and Kagan are the only ones who have graduate degrees aside from JDs or LLBs (which were commonly awarded instead of JDs back in the day). Kagan received a master's from Oxford, while Gorsuch received a PhD, so technically Gorsuch wins.

But really, I'm not sure how impressive it is to have a JD and a PhD versus just having a JD.

The JD/PhD crowd are invariably weirdos with a ton of family money. It means the law is just a game to you, and so was the degree.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

More salient to me, is how well you did when securing the degree, and from where, rather than the number of degrees. For example, Justice Roberts graduated summa cum laude (the top of his class) from Harvard College, and magna cum laude (near the top of his class) from the Harvard law school. I find that impressive, very impressive. Graduating at the top of your class from one of the most selective universities on the planet, is no mean feat.

So did Obama, who managed that GPA while serving as President of the Harvard Law Review and a research assistant to Laurence Tribe, who was at the height of his publishing frequency and Supreme Court litigation practice in the late '80s. Yet a huge number of legal conservatives still regard the guy as an intellectual fraud.

Grades are overrated, though; so is the school. I care about what you do with your law degree.

John Roberts is so smart....he used the wrong data in Shelby vs. Holder

Oh wait...nevermind, he's just full of shít like the rest of the SCOTUS judges

This was a staffer goof, and its easy to make since many people might not know that ****Hispanic is not a race in the Census!!!!  In a way it's kinda ridiculous the Census doesn't present straightforward numbers for the minorities meant to be protected by the Voting Rights Act but instead requires a calculation from two different variables.

Supreme Court Justices and at their staffers could use some better training in social statistics and research methods.  Brown v Board relied on some very shoddy social science such as the famous poorly designed study of children playing with dolls. It's worth wondering whether the cause of integration was ill served by being centered around questionable premises rather than a more accurate and solid appraisal.  But even if that is innocuous, there are other cases where people's rights have been abrigated because of bad data.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Ben Sasse has five degrees from Ivy League institutions. Who cares.

I agree with this. Degrees do not necessarily indicate intelligence. There are many people who have fewer, or no degrees at all, who have a lot more common sense and practical knowledge than those who do have degrees.

Cruz and Bush are further examples.

Examples of people without common sense but with degrees?

"In the 1960s there was a young man who had just graduated from the University of Michigan who was doing brilliant work in mathematics, specifically bounded harmonic functions.  Then he went to Berkeley, where he was an assistant professor and showed amazing potential.  Then he moved to Montana and blew the competition away."

[Calthrina950]

Ben Sasse has five degrees from Ivy League institutions. Who cares.

I agree with this. Degrees do not necessarily indicate intelligence. There are many people who have fewer, or no degrees at all, who have a lot more common sense and practical knowledge than those who do have degrees.

Cruz and Bush are further examples.

Examples of people without common sense but with degrees?

"In the 1960s there was a young man who had just graduated from the University of Michigan who was doing brilliant work in mathematics, specifically bounded harmonic functions.  Then he went to Berkeley, where he was an assistant professor and showed amazing potential.  Then he moved to Montana and blew the competition away."

Who?

[WritOfCertiorari]

Gorsuch and Kagan are the only ones who have graduate degrees aside from JDs or LLBs (which were commonly awarded instead of JDs back in the day). Kagan received a master's from Oxford, while Gorsuch received a PhD, so technically Gorsuch wins.

But really, I'm not sure how impressive it is to have a JD and a PhD versus just having a JD.

The JD/PhD crowd are invariably weirdos with a ton of family money. It means the law is just a game to you, and so was the degree.

Or, you know, law professors. Although you can become one with only a JD, pretty sure schools are moving towards wanting their professors to have a PHD. Much like how medical school professors often are MD/PHDs (though, of course, you could also become a professor at a law or a medical school with just a PHD, and no professional degree).

Honestly, I think a much more interesting degree to have as a law professor would be a PHD in history or economics.

[Torie]

Ben Sasse has five degrees from Ivy League institutions. Who cares.

I agree with this. Degrees do not necessarily indicate intelligence. There are many people who have fewer, or no degrees at all, who have a lot more common sense and practical knowledge than those who do have degrees.

Cruz and Bush are further examples.

Examples of people without common sense but with degrees?

"In the 1960s there was a young man who had just graduated from the University of Michigan who was doing brilliant work in mathematics, specifically bounded harmonic functions.  Then he went to Berkeley, where he was an assistant professor and showed amazing potential.  Then he moved to Montana and blew the competition away."

Who?

This guy.

[Calthrina950]

Ben Sasse has five degrees from Ivy League institutions. Who cares.

I agree with this. Degrees do not necessarily indicate intelligence. There are many people who have fewer, or no degrees at all, who have a lot more common sense and practical knowledge than those who do have degrees.

Cruz and Bush are further examples.

Examples of people without common sense but with degrees?

"In the 1960s there was a young man who had just graduated from the University of Michigan who was doing brilliant work in mathematics, specifically bounded harmonic functions.  Then he went to Berkeley, where he was an assistant professor and showed amazing potential.  Then he moved to Montana and blew the competition away."

Who?

This guy.

The Unabomber. Well I wonder why that was used as an example...

[IndustrialJustice]

Gorsuch and Kagan are the only ones who have graduate degrees aside from JDs or LLBs (which were commonly awarded instead of JDs back in the day). Kagan received a master's from Oxford, while Gorsuch received a PhD, so technically Gorsuch wins.

But really, I'm not sure how impressive it is to have a JD and a PhD versus just having a JD.

The JD/PhD crowd are invariably weirdos with a ton of family money. It means the law is just a game to you, and so was the degree.

Or, you know, law professors. Although you can become one with only a JD, pretty sure schools are moving towards wanting their professors to have a PHD. Much like how medical school professors often are MD/PHDs (though, of course, you could also become a professor at a law or a medical school with just a PHD, and no professional degree).

Honestly, I think a much more interesting degree to have as a law professor would be a PHD in history or economics.

Well yeah, like I said: weirdos.

But any proof as to the italicized? It certainly isn't true in the legal academies for my line of practice. Sure, some have PhDs, but it certainly doesn't seem to be anything of a prerequisite.

[WritOfCertiorari]

Gorsuch and Kagan are the only ones who have graduate degrees aside from JDs or LLBs (which were commonly awarded instead of JDs back in the day). Kagan received a master's from Oxford, while Gorsuch received a PhD, so technically Gorsuch wins.

But really, I'm not sure how impressive it is to have a JD and a PhD versus just having a JD.

The JD/PhD crowd are invariably weirdos with a ton of family money. It means the law is just a game to you, and so was the degree.

Or, you know, law professors. Although you can become one with only a JD, pretty sure schools are moving towards wanting their professors to have a PHD. Much like how medical school professors often are MD/PHDs (though, of course, you could also become a professor at a law or a medical school with just a PHD, and no professional degree).

Honestly, I think a much more interesting degree to have as a law professor would be a PHD in history or economics.

Well yeah, like I said: weirdos.

But any proof as to the italicized? It certainly isn't true in the legal academies for my line of practice. Sure, some have PhDs, but it certainly doesn't seem to be anything of a prerequisite.

I finally understand your username.

Yeah, I’m not particularly sure about that for law schools, but it does seem to be the trend in undergraduate programs. Rarely do you see a young professor who didn’t come up through the PHD——>Post-Doc track, though  I don’t have proof that it’s required.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Ben Sasse has five degrees from Ivy League institutions. Who cares.

I agree with this. Degrees do not necessarily indicate intelligence. There are many people who have fewer, or no degrees at all, who have a lot more common sense and practical knowledge than those who do have degrees.

Cruz and Bush are further examples.

Examples of people without common sense but with degrees?

What about Rick Perry? He lacks both common sense and actual brain cells.

[IndustrialJustice]

Yeah, I’m not particularly sure about that for law schools, but it does seem to be the trend in undergraduate programs. Rarely do you see a young professor who didn’t come up through the PHD——>Post-Doc track, though  I don’t have proof that it’s required.

As you may or may not know, law school-teaching credentials and other graduate program credentials are different worlds. Yes, PhDs are basically a required track in other departments. But there's no "PhD" equivalent in law, so it would require that professor to have an almost entirely different interest (or at best something supplementary). E.g., one of my tax law professors had a PhD in philosophy, which they featured in their scholarship through investigating the morality of certain tax schemes, but that's a rarity. That person received their PhD years after they were already a law professor, too.

Very few of my professors even had LLMs. I think it's generally assumed that a cup of coffee at a BigLaw firm (or the public interest experiential equivalent, etc.) is more helpful for your resume.

[TheBeardedOne]

Yeah, I’m not particularly sure about that for law schools, but it does seem to be the trend in undergraduate programs. Rarely do you see a young professor who didn’t come up through the PHD——>Post-Doc track, though  I don’t have proof that it’s required.

As you may or may not know, law school-teaching credentials and other graduate program credentials are different worlds. Yes, PhDs are basically a required track in other departments. But there's no "PhD" equivalent in law, so it would require that professor to have an almost entirely different interest (or at best something supplementary). E.g., one of my tax law professors had a PhD in philosophy, which they featured in their scholarship through investigating the morality of certain tax schemes, but that's a rarity. That person received their PhD years after they were already a law professor, too.

Very few of my professors even had LLMs. I think it's generally assumed that a cup of coffee at a BigLaw firm (or the public interest experiential equivalent, etc.) is more helpful for your resume.

There is a PhD equivalent in Law. It’s called the Doctor of Juridical Science.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Juridical_Science

[Progressive Pessimist]

Ben Sasse has five degrees from Ivy League institutions. Who cares.

I agree with this. Degrees do not necessarily indicate intelligence. There are many people who have fewer, or no degrees at all, who have a lot more common sense and practical knowledge than those who do have degrees.

Cruz and Bush are further examples.

Examples of people without common sense but with degrees?

Yeah I meant for them to be examples of your first sentence. I guess I didn't make that clear.