Potential justice won't name names

Walter Dellinger could be named as a Supreme Court justice if Vice President Al Gore wins the upcoming election. Just don't bother trying to get his opinion on the Bush-Gore showdown: In public, for all intents and purposes, he has none. Dellinger, a Duke University Law professor who has argued nine cases before the Supreme Court, delivered a talk entitled "The Supreme Court and the Presidency," in a filled-to-capacity auditorium in the Law School yesterday afternoon. The talk was part of the Irving R. Segal Lectureship in Trial Advocacy. The lecture featured a man revered in the legal field. In addition to being on the Law faculty at Duke , Dellinger has served as the United States acting solicitor general and assistant attorney general. Although it is hardly surprising that someone so experienced in the legal and political scene would speak on the upcoming elections, Dellinger spent the vast majority of the lecture praising the legal know-how of Abraham Lincoln. "I'm interested in Lincoln because he worked through the processes of government knowing that racism was rampant," Dellinger said. His talk was funny at times -- he amused the audience with his closing anecdote about confusing the names of several Supreme Court justices while arguing a case before them -- but he left many hanging by deliberately not mentioning the presidential race. Indeed, when asked point-blank for his opinion -- and preference on the election -- he declined to comment. "I came expecting it to be of the moment," College senior Joe Gordon said. "The speaker struck me as being more even-handed." Dellinger did allude briefly to more current issues when he mentioned his disagreement with the Supreme Court's 1997 ruling allowing Paula Jones to pursue her sexual harassment suit against President Clinton, which ultimately lead to Clinton's impeachment. Dellinger went on to provoke the crowd by stating that he disagreed with the decision, but found it beneficial nonetheless because it proved that all government officials were under one and the same law. "His point explaining that no one is above the law was important," first-year Law student Latonda Dunbar said. Third-year Law student Adam Coates said he thought that the lecture was very applicable to the studies of Law students and liked that it provided "perspective of the inside levels" of politics. "It was inspiring," he said. And Dellinger's historical background on the Supreme Court was, despite his lack of discussion of the contemporary political scene, viewed as an important topic for many Law students and legal scholars. This is a "timely topic," Dunbar stated, because whoever the next president appoints to the Supreme Court will be setting a legal course "for the next 50 years."

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