One day, someone brought wine into class. “He began to chant, ‘Who put the acid in the wine, who put the acid in the wine,’ and that was the end of the class for the day,” Alito said. Soon, there was a note on the class door: “I have found it necessary to go to San Francisco, the rest of the classes are cancelled.”
“That was the end of my instruction in constitutional law,” Alito said, to applause from the audience. “I was forced to teach myself.”
Alito quipped that there were several books about constitutional law to buy and read, “but a beginner might start out by actually reading the text of the constitution.”
“It is hard not to notice that Congress’ powers are limited,” Alito said. “And you will see there is an amendment that comes right after the First Amendment, and there’s another that comes after the Ninth Amendment. Those are just a couple of examples.”
