John Roberts’s Chance for Greatness

Among Chief Justice John Roberts’s many talents is an ability to mask ambition. Though conversational in chambers, about the day’s headlines or the Notre Dame game over the weekend, he is by nature reticent. Law clerks don’t feel they get to know him as well as, say, Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer. So a few years ago, when the chief let his guard down, the moment astonished his listeners. And it revealed a hunger for greatness that went along with an abiding affection for the institution he leads.

I heard the story while reporting my book on the Supreme Court, The MostI interviewed the majority of the justices, and 65 law clerks, all on condition of anonymity; neither the justices nor their clerks typically speak on the record about the Court's proceedings. And I gave all the justices the opportunity to comment on what would be written about them.