The members of the court were just delighted to have a ninth member - male or female. They were all kind and welcoming.

I'm a judge. It seemed to me that it was critical to try to take action to stem the criticism and help people understand that in the constitutional framework, it's terribly important not to have a system of retaliation against decisions people don't like.

When I went to law school, which after all was back in the dark ages, we never looked beyond our borders for precedents. As a state court judge, it never would have occurred to me to do so, and when I got to the Supreme Court, it was very much the same. We just didn't do it.

It is difficult to discern a serious threat to religious liberty from a room of silent, thoughtful schoolchildren.

I had become increasingly concerned in recent years about the lack of civics education in our nation's schools. In recent years, the schools have stopped teaching it. And it's unfortunate.

If parents instill a sense of civic-mindedness - and there is no better way to do that than by example - their children will probably follow.

The No Child Left Behind Program was an incentive to the schools to get their kids up to snuff on math and science and reading.