"It used to be routine, too, Chief Justice Roberts said, for presidents to appoint prominent public figures to the court."

"In 1941, the year Hughes left the court, Chief Justice Roberts said, 'you had two senators on the court, a representative, three former attorneys general.' The court that decided Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 decision banning segregation in public schools, included Chief Justice Earl Warren, a former governor of California; Hugo L. Black, a former United States senator; William O. Douglas, who had been chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; and Robert H. Jackson, who had been the attorney general. By contrast, Chief Justice Roberts said, until Justice Elena Kagan arrived in 2010, “every single member of the court had been a court of appeals judge.' He did not comment Friday on the significance of the narrowing of the career paths, but in 2009 he said the development was a positive one, resulting in decisions with 'a more legal perspective and less of a policy perspective.'"

From respectful coverage, by the NYT's Adam Liptak, of a talk by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. at NYU School of Law. Roberts's subject was Charles Evans Hughes, who before becoming Chief Justice "had been governor of New York, an associate justice of the court, the Republican nominee for president (losing narrowly to Woodrow Wilson), secretary of state and a Wall Street lawyer who argued more than 50 cases in the court."

Interesting to see the somewhat random appearance of the name Woodrow Wilson. The old president has become a big issue of late. In this very edition of the NYT, Woodrow Wilson comes up in 2 headlines:

1."Should Woodrow Wilson’s Name Be Erased at Princeton?" These are letters to the editor reacting to yesterday's "At Princeton, Woodrow Wilson, a Heralded Alum, Is Recast as an Intolerant One." From the letters:

"Questioning [Wilson's reputation] is fair game, but doing so should target Wilson’s entire political life, not a few incidents and opinions that were normative during his time in office." (From a sociology professor.)

"Removing [Wilson's] name and images, of course, are merely symbolic demands.... The administration needs to address... the paucity of black faculty members and inadequate attention to African-American culture in the curriculum, and a feeling that black students are not entirely welcomed on campus." (From a Black Studies professor.)

"All of our leaders and heroes, from biblical times to today, are not idols but real people with all-too-common flaws... If the message is that leadership can’t be accompanied by blemishes, what member of this self-aware generation will be willing to stand up to lead?"

2. "What Woodrow Wilson Cost My Grandfather":

An African-American born in 1862 to a prominent white Washington lawyer and his black “housekeeper,” my grandfather was a smart, ambitious and handsome young black man. He emulated his idol, Theodore Roosevelt, in style and dress.... Even as the strictures of Jim Crow segregation began to harden in the South, Washington, and the federal Civil Service, offered African-Americans real opportunity for employment and advancement.... Over a long career, he rose through the ranks from laborer to a position in midlevel management. He supervised an office in which many of his employees were white men.... But only months after Woodrow Wilson was sworn in as president in 1913, my grandfather was demoted.... Wilson was not just a racist. He believed in white supremacy as government policy, so much so that he reversed decades of racial progress....