A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

I KNOW THE FEELING: This blog, of course, will not be delving into the political/legal details of John Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court. But I spotted something today in his written responses to questions from Sen. Feingold with which I could really identify.

Feingold asked Roberts, basically, "You wrote a law review note on the takings clause in 1978. Do you still believe what you said?" To which Roberts said that he would, of course, follow Supreme Court precedent in the area, and concluded:

I would not follow my student note; no one else has.

See, e.g., Adam C. Bonin, Protecting Protection: First and Fifth Amendment Challenges to Cryptography Regulation, 1996 U Chi Legal F 495 (1996) (because no one else has); but see the much more popular (and relevant) Matthew D. Marcotte, Advice and Consent: A Historical Argument for Substantive Senatorial Involvement in Judicial Nominations, 5 NYU J Legis & Pub Pol'y 519 (2002).