Up and down the eastern seaboard there’s been one name on the tip of everyone’s tongue: Sandy. No, people are not referring to Annie’s loveable mutt or to Grease’s evolving heroine. (Well, in some cases, people are cleverly invoking that certain character from Grease.) It’s Hurricane Sandy, otherwise known as Frankenstorm, that has the East Coast abuzz because she’s coming and coming soon.
In anticipation for the havoc that Sandy is bound to wreck, there have been evacuations and closures from D.C. to Boston. But there is one institution that is staying open because “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” will stop it…from taking the bench. That’s right. The Highest Court in the Land has no need to head for high ground in the wake of Sandy. Unlike many other federal courts today, the Supreme Court was in session as scheduled.
The Supreme Court has a tradition of thumping its nose at inclement weather. The ABA Journal recalls an instance back in 1986 when the federal government was closed because of a snow storm but the Court soldiered on, sending out 4 wheel-drive vehicles to bring the justices to court. Some, like Olivia Newton John, might classify that dedication as being hopelessly devoted.