by Arthur J. Goldberg

On the first Monday in October, 1962,1 took my seat on the Supreme Court, after being appointed by President Kennedy with the advice and consent of the Senate.

It is not generally known that a newly appointed justice takes two oaths. The first is the judicial oath (like the Hippocratic oath of doctors) administered by the chief justice in the robing room in the presence of other members of the Court. The second is administered in open court.

In taking both oaths, I elected to do so on the Hebrew bible, given to me by my grandfather, a Rabbi (a cleric who, by tradition, often acted as a judge), rather than the Court bible. Being Jewish I was of the view that it was appropriate that my oaths of office be taken on the bible of my ancestors. Of course, to preserve continuity, I signed the fly leaf of the Court bible.

When I took my seat on the far left of the bench, facing the bar and interested onlookers, I found that the court room was filled with distinguished members of the executive and legislative branches of the government. First among them was President Kennedy. The President was seated, without any fanfare, in the judge's box for invited guests, in the first seat next to my wife.

When Chief Justice Warren convened the court, I rather anticipated that he would acknowledge the presence of President Kennedy. The Chief Justice, however, did not do so. After the administration of the oath of office by the Clerk and my assuming my seat on the Bench, the Chief Justice announced that the Court would then recess. This was for the purpose of passing on the certiorari petitions filed during the summer recess. At that time, the Court did not follow the custom inaugurated by Chief Justice Burger, which I endorse, of meeting a week in advance of the convening of the Court, in order to get a head start in disposing of the large volume of summer certs.

I noticed from President Kennedy's expression that he was rather nonplussed and somewhat resentful at not being introduced and called upon to say a few words.

After taking my seat on the court, I made a deliberate decision to confine social contacts with the President to the minimum required by protocol. My reason for doing so was that it is, in light of the conception of separation of powers, unseemly for a justice of the Supreme Court to maintain relations with a president, other than participation in a State dinner at the White House. Thus, during my almost two years on the Bench, I virtually had no contact with President Kennedy, except for the instance I shall now describe.

On November 7, 1962 Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt passed away. She was a friend of mine of longstanding and I, along with most Americans, held her in high regard. President Kennedy was aware of my friendship and respect for Mrs. Roosevelt, which he shared.

Immediately after the announcement of her death, President Kennedy telephoned and invited me to accompany him on Air Force One to Mrs. Roosevelt's funeral at Hyde Park.

While enroute to the funeral ceremonies, President Kennedy was gracious enough to invite me to sit with him on this rather sad flight. Needless to say, our conversation during the flight in no way related to the business of the Court. However, President Kennedy did voice his resentment that Chief Justice Warren did not acknowledge the President's presence on the occasion of my swearing-in.

After listening to this President's grievance I told him, in all candor, that I was of the view that Chief Justice Warren acted properly and without discourtesy in not specifically acknowledging the presence of the President of the United States. I reminded him that he had been seated in the most preferred position in the judge's box. Further, I presumed to remind the President that the federal judiciary is one of the three co-equal branches of our government and that it is always important to demonstrate, for public perception, that the Supreme Court, in particular, is not an adjunct of the Executive. Finally, I pointed out that the government is a litigant in the Supreme Court and in light of this, undue obsequiousness to the President is unseemly. President Kennedy reflected upon this for sometime and finally said, "you are right" and that Chief Justice Warren's swearing-in procedure was most appropriate. Parenthetically, Chief Justice Warren was a great admirer of President Kennedy.

There is another rather interesting sidelight on the momentous day, at least to me, of my swearing-in. When I took my seat on the extreme left of the Bench as the junior associate justice, I opened the drawer on the Bench adjacent to my chair to obtain some note paper. To my surprise and delight I found an old dog-eared copy of the Constitution bearing the personal signature of that great Yankee from Olympus, Justice Oliver W Holmes, Jr. Needless to say, this finding made a considerable emotional impact on me. To sit on the seat on the Bench once occupied by that great justice was a singular honor. To find a copy of the Constitution inscribed by Justice Holmes was doubly so.

My first inclination was to remove the copy and preserve it as part of my family archives. On reflection, however, I came to the conclusion that it was most inappropriate of me to do so. Not only was the copy part of the Court's archives but, also, I conceived, it would be of great moment for any new justice occupying this seat, to find in the drawer a copy of the Constitution signed by Justice Holmes.

I can only hope and trust that as long as the Court sits, this treasured