New member of the family

WASHINGTON - How seriously do they take change over at the Supreme Court? Very seriously.

It's not that the justices aren't welcoming Sonia Sotomayor as one of The Nine. But it sounds as if the prospect of a third new justice in four years is a bit traumatic - even to one of the new justices.

"To some extent, it's unsettling," Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. told C-SPAN as part of a series of broadcasts the network plans about the court. "You quickly get to view the court as ... composed of these members, and it becomes kind of hard to think of it as involving anyone else." Roberts is nearing his fourth anniversary on the court.

"It's stressful for us because we so admire our colleagues," Justice Anthony M. Kennedy added. "We wonder, oh, will it ever be the same?"

C-SPAN is scheduled to begin broadcasting the series Oct. 4. But because Sotomayor will take the bench for the first time Wednesday, in a special hearing about the constitutionality of a campaign-finance law, the network released some of the footage early, on Thursday.

This particular Supreme Court might be more averse to change than others, thanks to a recent period of stability. After Justice Stephen G. Breyer took the bench in 1994, the court went 11 years without a new member.

"As far as the composition of the court, you're bringing in basically - and this word can be overused - you're bringing in a family member," Justice Clarence Thomas said. "It changes the whole family. ... You have to start all over. The chemistry is different."

Justices insist their friendships are deep despite competing judicial philosophies. Asked what she would tell Sotomayor, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg replied: "I would say you will be surprised by the high level of collegiality here. This term, I think we divided 5-4 in almost one-third of all the cases. One might get a false impression on that degree of disagreement."

Some justices acknowledge that new blood can be good.

"It can cause you to take a fresh look at how things are decided," Roberts allowed. "The new member is going to have a particular view about how issues should be addressed that may be very different from what we've been following for some time."

In the interviews - all but one conducted after Sotomayor was nominated but before she was confirmed - there was special note of her being the court's third female member (108 men have been appointed to the court).

Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, its first woman, spoke of an age-old problem: what to wear. "I didn't know anybody who made robes for women justices, and I think most of what was available was something like a choir robe or an academic robe." She ended up wearing a plain black one from her days as a judge in Arizona - and then was criticized for not wearing some sort of judicial collar underneath it.

Ginsburg showed off a lace collar that she said was from South Africa: "You know, the standard robe is made for a man because it has a place for the shirt to show, and the tie. So Sandra Day O'Connor and I thought it would be appropriate if we included as part of our robe something typical of a woman. So I have many, many collars."

The Supreme Court will release audiotapes

soon after Wednesday's argument in a case about limits on campaign spending by corporations and unions.

The court said it had agreed to a request by C-SPAN for the quick release of audio in "Citizens United v. FEC," which involves a movie, made by a conservative group, that was harshly critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential ambitions.

C-SPAN said it expects

to air the audio soon after the argument concludes, probably about 11:30 a.m.

- Associated Press

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See video of the justices' comments via http:// go.philly.com/newjustice EndText