Illustration by Cody Angell

I was working at the Main Library last Tuesday morning when I decided to check my e-mail. Buried within the junk mail clutter was a rare personalized message. It was from Mr. Thomas McDermott, a second-year UA law student, former Wildcat columnist and current president of the UA Federalist Society.

He had sent me an e-mail informing me that his group would be having lunch that afternoon with William Rehnquist, and invited me to attend. And oh yeah, Rehnquist just happens to be chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now, I had just met Republican Sen. Jon Kyl a couple weeks before, which was a pretty big thrill. But with all due respect to Sen. Kyl, this was an opportunity to meet the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court - did I mention that already?

Naturally, I would have been crazy not to go. I took off a half-hour early from work so I could get over to the College of Law in time.

I had no idea how formal the whole thing was going to be. I was casually dressed for work and hadn't shaven in days, and didn't have any time to clean myself up. But this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I wasn't going to pass it up.

When I arrived at the Law building and made my way over to Room 122, I found that I was, to my relief, appropriately dressed for the occasion. There was a somewhat intimate gathering of about 30 law students, leisurely dressed, with chips and soft drinks available on the counter.

For some reason, every time I'm about to see someone famous in person, I expect him or her to be somehow larger than life when they enter the room. It's almost as if I anticipate a spotlight or some kind of aura of greatness around that person. Or at the very least, he or she should be taller than everyone else.

But when Rehnquist entered the room, he looked like just another guy. He came in alongside a couple of other gentlemen, who I assume were present for security purposes. He took his seat at the head of the table. Tom made a brief statement about how much of an honor it was to have the chief justice here, then we applauded politely, and lunch was underway (for the record, the chief justice had a tuna sandwich and Sprite).

Rehnquist suggested we all introduce ourselves, so he went around the table asking us our names and what we all wanted to do with our lives. There actually wasn't enough room at the table for everyone to sit, so some of us, including myself, sat in chairs available in the back of the room.

Since nearly everyone else was studying law, my introduction was going to be a little different. But I already knew what I wanted to say.

"I'm Shane Dale, I'm actually a, uh, political science junior. Mr. McDermott was nice enough to invite me · uh, I basically took over Tom's spot as the only conservative columnist at our school paper. And uh, as a conservative, I'd like to thank you for twice knocking the Florida Supreme Court on its rear end."

Yeah, I actually said that to William Rehnquist. Fortunately, it got a laugh from most of the room. Rehnquist didn't say anything before moving on to the next person; he was in between bites of his sandwich. Maybe that was for the better.

After the intros, we had a brief Q & A session with the chief justice. Not many people were raising their hands with questions, so I decided to take advantage of an opportunity that I'll probably never have again.

I asked him if he had a feel as to whether or not President Bush would look to overturn Roe v. Wade if he had the chance.

Yeah, that's right. I was discussing Roe v. Wade over lunch with the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Tell me that's not one of the coolest things ever.

Actually, he said he had no idea what was on Bush's mind. He told me that Washington is much bigger than it was 50 years ago, in that the president and Supreme Court justices hardly ever associate with each other anymore.

After that, some of the other students asked more legal-specific questions of him. He took off about 20 minutes later.

Then I thanked Tom for inviting me, and I left.

That was my Tuesday.