When President Obama decides on a new Supreme Court associate justice, it may be worthwhile for the “technology president” to consider the future justice’s basic understanding of technology, a skill set that seems be notably absent on the Court.
Seems during oral arguments Monday in the case City of Ontario v. Quon, a case that considers city workers’ expectation of privacy in personal text messages sent on devices provided by the city, the Court had some—ahem—issues grasping the practical aspects of the case:
The first sign was about midway through the argument, when Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. – who is known to write out his opinions in long hand with pen and paper instead of a computer – asked what the difference was “between email and a pager?”
I think one goes through a series of tubes, Mr. Chief Justice.
If you read the transcript, Roberts was establishing that there is a difference between an email, which goes through the employer’s servers, and a pager message, which does not.
http://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/08-1332.pdf