SCOTUSblog on camera: Orin Kerr – Part one

From mechanical engineering to the law; not being fired by the Department of Justice; and the importance of technical knowledge to law and technology.

In this five-part interview, Orin Kerr of the George Washington University Law School discusses his background inmechanical engineering and the law; clerking for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and Judge Leonard I. Garth of the Third Circuit; working in theComputer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice; and teaching law. Kerr talks abouthow the Court considers cases, understands legal principle and contends with changing technology; the importance of predictability in law; the Courts institutional position;and the role of politics in understanding the Court and its membership.

One thing that I didnt appreciate until I was a law clerk was the extent to which the Justices are generalists. . . . You just sort of imagine that they have . . . clear agendas and a senseof, Im going from here to here to here. Thats not generally the case. Thats not the norm. The norm is that theyre generalist Justices.