I think the nine justices think the solicitor general is the 35th clerk.

It's not that there are no masters, but that there are many. And the job of the solicitor general is to balance those masters and to accommodate them all, each in their proper places, wisely and well and in so doing to represent the people of the United States.

And what my constitutional values are are wholly irrelevant to the job, and so neither you nor anyone else will know what they are.

I've led a school whose faculty and students examine and discuss and debate every aspect of our law and legal system. And what I've learned most is that no one has a monopoly on truth or wisdom. I've learned that we make progress by listening to each other, across every apparent political or ideological divide.

I do not espouse the unitarian position. President Clinton's assertion of directive authority over administration, more than President Reagan's assertion of a general supervisory authority, raises serious constitutional questions.

I think the nine justices think the solicitor general is the 35th clerk.

What my political views or my constitutional views are just doesn't matter.