If cameras were allowed in the U.S. Supreme Court, it would have been a Kodak moment. As it was, few spectators were on hand for the first oral argument on the morning of April 14, 2008.
The question before the justices: Do tribal courts have jurisdiction over a dispute between a nontribal bank and an Indian-owned corporation? Halfway into the hearing, Chief Justice John Roberts, Jr., leaned forward to say he was trying to understand the concept of an “Indian corporation.” With a faint smile he nodded toward his colleagues on the bench. “If Justices Scalia and Alito form a corporation,” he asked, “is that an Italian corporation?” Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito, Jr., laughed heartily, even though Scalia makes a point of tell-ing people he is Italian American, not Italian. “Do we get personal loan guarantees?” asked Scalia, going along with the joke.
