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LNH at the Supreme Court

LNH Visit to the NH Supreme Court
Tuesday afternoon, January 23, 2007
Kevin Peterson

The LNH Class of 2007 spent an enlightening three hours at the NH Supreme Court on January 23rd. About 20 members of the class were able to attend. Several attorneys in the class could not attend because they or their firm have a pending case before the court.

We arrived and passed through a metal detector inside the front door, then gathered in the court chambers. Laura Kiernan, special assistant to the Chief Justice, greeted us and provided a brief orientation to the building, which was constructed in 1970 and named in honor of Frank Kenison, who served as Chief Justice for 25 years. The large, high-ceilinged court chamber is adorned with paintings of all the former Chief Justices of the court. She also pointed out a small web camera mounted on the rear wall. All Supreme Court proceedings are broadcast on a live webcast. On the day that we visited, a NH public television crew also was visiting the court to do filming for an episode of the “A Day in the Life” series.

The five justices joined us in the chamber for an hour-long introduction and question-and-answer session. They sat facing us in five wooden chairs with the Supreme Court logo. As is customary, they sat “in formation”, with Chief Justice John Broderick in the center, flanked—in descending order of seniority—by Senior Associate Justice Linda Dalianis and Associate Justices James Duggan, Richard Galway and Gary Hicks. After introductions all around, each of the justices provided some brief background information on the court and its workings, followed by questions and dialog with the group. Discussion ranged from pressing priorities of the court system (new technology, workload, staffing, security) to common law, personal aspirations about becoming a justice (all five suggested that becoming a Supreme Court justice was not something they strove to achieve—in most cases, their arrival on the court was an accident or a case of luck or being in the right place at the right time), the time it takes to become fully versed in the court and a really effective justice (five to 12 years), and balancing the work of the court with home life and avocations. Don Kreis pointedly asked, “Is oral argument really worth anything?”, to which the justices answered “YES”, “Sometimes”, and “Depends on the attorney making the argument.” All of the justices agreed that oral argument can be very valuable, particularly to them (even though the attorneys think it’s really for THEM).

Later, we broke into three, smaller groups to visit with justices in their chambers. My group joined Justice Galway in his small office, which was adorned with paintings and photos from around New Hampshire, including several large prints of the Old Man of the Mountain. Justice Galway shared his insights about the collegiality of the court, the process of developing written opinions, the work of court clerks (each justice is assigned two clerks, whom they have a hand in selecting), the limited security in some of the court facilities around the state, the challenges of modernizing the state court system with financial resources so limited, the give-and-take involved in forming majorities (which can change in the course of writing an opinion), and many other topics. We talked a bit about the impact of the 2000 impeachment of three justices and the “trial” before the NH Senate of then-Chief Justice David Brock.

Our final gathering was in the court conference room at the back of the building. We reconvened as a large group, and Justice Broderick described the room and its furnishings, which included several original works of art on loan from the Currier Gallery. He noted that were this a federal court, the windows would be covered and a perimeter fence installed for security. As of yet, that has not been necessary in NH. He displayed a silver pitcher, the bequest of the wife of a former Chief Justice (it was a wedding present to the two of them in the 1930s), which is used to hold numbers representing cases to be assigned for writing to each of the five justices. While one Justice remarked that a Tupperware container could work just as well, it was pointed out that the pitcher represents an important thread of history for the Court—the hands of dozens of justices have reached into it to randomly select cases for assignment (including current US Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who was a NH Supreme Court Justice in the late-1980s).

Today was yet another example of the incredible opportunity offered by LNH: the chance to gain invaluable insight into the inner workings of this state.

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