November 22, 2014

Hazing and hunting on the Supreme Court.

"They hazed me, this is true," Elena Kagan said. They made her head of cafeteria committee:
"It's not a very good cafeteria, so this is really just the opportunity they have to kind of haze you all the time. Like, 'Argh, you know, Elena, this food isn't very good.' "
And it's her job, as the Justice with the least seniority to take note and open the door when someone knocks:
"I take notes as the Junior Justice … and answer the door when there's a knock. Literally, if there's a knock on the door and I don't hear it, there will not be a single other person who will move. They'll all just stare at me. You might ask, Who comes to the door? Well, it's knock, knock, 'Justice X forgot his glasses.' And knock, knock, 'Justice Y forgot her coffee.' There I am hopping up and down. That's a form of hazing, right?"
Kagan also describes going hunting with Justice Scalia several times a year:
"I do like it... I'm a competitive person. You know, you put a gun in my hand and say the object is to shoot something, I'm like, 'All right! Let's do it!'"

35 comments:

fivewheels said...

I sometimes wonder how many people who are opposed to Second Amendment rights have ever exercised their Second Amendment rights. I find there is a lot of ignorance working on that side of the issue. Not always, but often.

rehajm said...

It's been my observation that lefties hate guns but love shooting them.

RecChief said...

don't take her hunting

rehajm said...

Without Scalia it's a very dull group with little reason to stay together.

The Drill SGT said...

Lawyers and judges in the criminal system need to understand guns and how they work.

I had a similar story from when I was an Army LT in the late 70's. I was dating an Army JAG Lawyer (Defense Attorney) from Chicago. She was in the Army, and defending a guy accused of shooting another soldier (allegedly by accident), by had no comprehension of things like the safety switch on an M-16, etc, etc. I provided some sub rosa training, and snuck her into our arms room to conduct a bit of hands on drill (unloaded weapon)

PS: The Jury, a bunch of senior officers won't take your arguments seriously if you are a woman and talk about loading clips of bullets into the gun.

PS: bullets are the pointy things that come out of the front hole after the round loaded from the magazine and is fired :)

Carnifex said...

Kagan has had a demon weapon in her hand and she hasn't killed anyone? (We know Scalia has killed busloads of kittens and kids and the media is just covering for him) Like they cover for all conservatives.

David said...

Apparently it's been a long time (if ever) since she was at the bottom of any totem pole.

Tank said...

Firearms are an odd subject. Even people who are anti 2nd Amendment, and anti-gun, will frequently admit that "playing with guns" is fun and exciting.

Of course, if you actually need a firearm to defend yourself or your family, all that "playing" is excellent training (well, maybe not excellent, but WAY better than no training).

Goju said...

Scalia has gotten Sotomayer interested in shooting and hunting also.

MadisonMan said...

Woman, get me some Coffee!! And what David said. You're starting at the bottom. Shut up and do the grunt work and eventually you'll be rewarded.

As for guns, I have a gun I want to sell, but alas the market for Fox Sterlingworths is a little saturated.

robinintn said...

There's someone with a powerful motivation toward Ginsburg's retirement.

Hagar said...

No, that is not what "hazing" means.

traditionalguy said...

Wonder what Hell Week is like over at the Court. Do they have a scavenger hunt to bring back stolen documents from the National Archives? Or do they have to find their way back from Fort Stevens.

pm317 said...

Ha.. why didn't the last male junior justice write something like this.. I think whining and entitlement is in a liberal's blood.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Is it just me, or is ""It's not a very good cafeteria," a bit impolite? Do the cafeteria workers not read People?

khesanh0802 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
khesanh0802 said...

The junior officer always gets the sh*t details: christmas OOD, mess officer, morale officer, get coffee for the boss, hold the door. So what's new at the SC?

The Drill SGT said...

khesanh0802 said...
The junior officer always gets the sh*t details: christmas OOD, mess officer, morale officer, get coffee for the boss, hold the door. So what's new at the SC?


One minor Mod. The F'ing new guy, or the Single Officer...

If you are both....

Michael K said...

"Apparently it's been a long time (if ever) since she was at the bottom of any totem pole."

Perhaps a "Trigger Warning" should be included with the next nomination of a female to the court.

Chance said...

That's funny, I actually heard good things about the SCOTUS cafeteria from a former assistant SG.

Anonymous said...

So in ten years, will she be jumping up to get the door, when the junior doesn't hear the knock?

I didn't think so either.

madAsHell said...

You know, you put a gun in my hand and say the object is to shoot something, I'm like, 'All right! Let's do it!'"

She sounds like a 15 year old boy playing a video game. Frightening.

C R Krieger said...

What khesanh0802 said…

The Junior officer is always the Snack O—or Snack Bar Officer.

Regards  —  Cliff

PS:  I note underlining is not allowed in Comments.

Anonymous said...

khesanh0802 said...
The junior officer always gets the sh*t details: christmas OOD, mess officer, morale officer, get coffee for the boss, hold the door. So what's new at the SC?

Don't you know Kagan is a woman? She is more equal than any men in Court. May be a Dear Leader's newly legalized Mexican maid to follow her around to do the "chores"?

Ann Althouse said...

Breyer was the junior justice for 12 years.

Beldar said...

The current Justices seem to do a very good job of getting along on a personal basis. Life tenure both permits and necessitates that collegiality.

Achilles said...

Hazing. I love stories! I also want some real hazing stories in this thread, not like what that stuck up bitch was complaining about.

When a platoon gets a new LT/Captain Platoon Leader the privates are sent out to ball him up. (background)A PL is in charge of the platoon, about 30-40 people, and is the lowest ranking officer in the army with a command. A standard PL in Battalion is about 24-25 years old and has had one or more combat deployments with a regular army unit as a PL. So... The privates tackle the PL and zip tie him up then do mean things to him. One PL ended up in the showers with cold water running on him and covered in shaving cream and gun lubricant for example.

When I got to battalion after doing various calisthenics for 2-3 hours for my new team leader they made me clean the squad room until 5 in the morning. Formation for PT was at 6.

Volcano watch! A private would be tied up and stuffed in a sleeping bag. The sleeping bag would then be hung out the window facing west towards Mount Rainier and the private was instructed to make sure that if the volcano erupted he would warn the battalion. Shifts on volcano watch would last 24-48 hours.

Hit the Ropes! If a tab of TL uttered those words any private that heard it had to run out and climb the ropes in the quad and hit the beam holding them yelling ranger. One private was made to do it repeatedly. On the 3rd or 7th iteration he lost his grip about 20 feet up landed on his ass and ended up in a back cast. They cut the ropes down after that. =(

A "drive on," now also banned although still done in private settings, is an event done to a private right before they go to Ranger School. The privates are generally stuffed with food and alcohol as a joke since you see very little of either at school. The team leaders put on leg uniforms and sometimes stuff pillows in their clothes to simulate a Ranger Instructor who is generally(not all) fat and lazy and got kicked out of their unit and sent to be an RI for sucking. Then they run around the battalion area doing stupid things to simulate Ranger School until the private pukes.

After a jump(out of an airplane followed by some combat drills) the privates have to go help clean up the parachutes. The TL's have a name draw and one is sent(he is angry to start with) This usually starts around 2 or 3 in the morning since many jumps are at night and ends around 4 or 5, just in time for 6 o'clock PT formation! If they are nice they skip PT formation and we just start at 9.

Oh memories. I didn't even describe any beatings. Those aren't really considered hazing though, just beatings I guess. But to women and men who spend their lives in no real danger or distress getting a cup of coffee for someone might be seen as something hard.

Michael K said...

"But to women and men who spend their lives in no real danger or distress getting a cup of coffee for someone might be seen as something hard."

A memory of the old days in college. Fraternity hazing was real and one form was "ditching" where a pledge was taken for a ride and dropped off miles from any telephone. The trick was to get back as soon as possible.

Once, I made it back before the actives who had dropped me off on the back road to Bear Bear in the mountains.

That pretty much stopped when the guys at some college in Massachusetts dropped some pledges off in winter and they tried to walk across a frozen lake and fell in.

Drago said...

khesanh0802: "The junior officer always gets the sh*t details: christmas OOD, mess officer, morale officer, get coffee for the boss, hold the door. So what's new at the SC."

In many squadrons (probably not anymore of course), the new guy always wore a "FaNG" nametag for "F'n New Guy". It usually lasted a month or so along with all the really "coveted" additional ground duties assigned.

Opinh Bombay said...

Hey! Kagan! Run over to Hangar 4 and get a bucket of jet wash from the Chief!

Bruce Hayden said...

A memory of the old days in college. Fraternity hazing was real and one form was "ditching" where a pledge was taken for a ride and dropped off miles from any telephone. The trick was to get back as soon as possible.

They had us doing it in dresses. This sort of hazing seemed to die out by the time I was a senior - maybe because of those guys falling through the ice.

ken in tx said...

"Hey! Kagan! Run over to Hangar 4 and get a bucket of jet wash from the Chief!" Plus a couple lengths of flightline and a left-handed torque wrench.

Drago said...

ken in tx said...
"Hey! Kagan! Run over to Hangar 4 and get a bucket of jet wash from the Chief!" Plus a couple lengths of flightline and a left-handed torque wrench

Grab a couple of skyhooks while you're at it.

Mundane68 said...

Kagan! Where are those boxes of grid squares?

Achilles said...

You know what would be really cool? Knowing that the newest SC justice gets balled up and zip tied by the other justices and thrown in the shower stall and covered in shaving cream.

A youtube would be awesome also. It would make the confirmation process something to look forward to.