I'm Elizabeth Slattery and welcome to Scotus 101, where we break down what's happening at the Supreme Court,

what the justices are up to, and other things related to our favorite branch of government.

Today I'm joined by Sheldon Gilbert of the National Constitution Center.

Welcome back.

Thanks. Glad to be back.

Yeah. So the last time you were on this podcast, you were at IJ.

So how are you settling in to your new digs at NCC? Oh, you know, the National Constitution

Center is just right across from Independence Hall. So you can practically feel the original public meaning of the Constitution emanating

from across the way. It's fantastic. That's great. Well, in this episode, we'll talk about

Justice Kavanaugh's first week on the bench. And also, I recently spoke with Judge Lisa Branch of

the 11th Circuit, so we'll run that interview. So the court is out this week, so some of the justices are out of town giving speeches.

Chief Justice Roberts made headlines earlier this week for addressing the recent unpleasantness in Washington.

Speaking to students at the University of Minnesota Law School, here's what he had to say.

He said, I'm not going to criticize the political branches,

but he emphasized how the judicial branch is, and it must be, very different. Unlike public officials, members of the judiciary, do not speak for the people. We speak for the Constitution.

He also talked about the importance of collegiality on his court, and he described a shared

commitment to a genuine exchange of ideas

and views through each step of the decision process. We need to know at each step that we are all

in this together. Which is that was a nice thing. And he also quoted his newest colleague,

Justice Kavanaugh, when he said, we don't sit on opposite sides of the aisle, we don't caucus in

separate rooms, we don't serve one party or one interest, we serve one nation. And he wrapped up his

speech by saying, I want to assure all of you that we will continue to do the best, to do that to the

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