# Supreme Court Justices don't use email.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 21, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815 "2013-08-21T17:46:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/1 "2013-08-21T17:46:08Z")
My parents got their first computer in 1994. My mom is 81 and uses email every day. đ
Iâd hope that outside the court most of the Justices have private email. But you never know. Itâs surprising how many older people are afraid of computers.
I love the visual of this description. I can just see some dude in a suit and white gloves with the paper on a silver tray. đ
\*âShe says justices write memos, which are then printed out on ivory paper that looks like it came from the 19th century. The memos are walked around the building by someone called a âchambers aide.ââ
\*
> **['The court hasn't "gotten to" email': Elena Kagan reveals Supreme Court is...](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2398606/Elena-Kagan-Supreme-Court-technologically-illiterate-justices-use-hand-delivered-memos.html)**
>
> Elena Kagan, the youngest justice, said the justices still communicate with each other the same way they did when she was a clerk in 1987: with paper memos.
> [@](#):
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> The Supreme Court has the final say on cases that, increasingly, involve legal issues with modern technological advances, but the court itself is technologically illiterate and doesnât even have email, one of the justices has revealed.
>
> Elena Kagan, the youngest member of the court, said the justices still communicate with each other the same way they did when she was a clerk in 1987: with paper memos.
>
> In an appearance in Providence on Tuesday, Kagan acknowledged the justices have a long way to go to understand technologies such as Facebook, Twitter and even email.
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### Author:  [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/2 "2013-08-21T17:48:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Iâd hope that outside the court most of the Justices have private email
At least one does:
> [@](#):
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> âItâs a challenge for us,â Kagan said, while also noting that she herself uses email,
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/3 "2013-08-21T17:54:50Z")
Justice Kagan is only 53. She probably has a Blackberry, IPad and very current on technology.
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### Author:  [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/4 "2013-08-21T17:57:10Z")
On the other hand, at least some of them (Kagan among them) did try their hands at video games before _Brown v. EMA_.
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### Author:  [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/5 "2013-08-22T02:53:20Z")
From the article:
> [@](#):
>
> âThe justices are not necessarily the most technologically sophisticated people,â she said, adding that while clerks email each other, âThe court hasnât really âgotten toâ email.â
What I understand is that the Supreme Court has e-mails that the Court staff uses, along with at least some of the Justices.
However, the Supreme Court is an institution that is steeped in traditions which are rigidly maintained. So, when Justices are formally communicating with each other on Court business, they do so by written memoranda, rather than e-mailing the other Justices.
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### Author:  [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/6 "2013-08-22T03:34:17Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> Justice Kagan is only 53. She probably has a Blackberry, IPad and very current on technology.
I believe this is the first time since 2007 that the words âBlackberryâ and âvery current on technologyâ have been used in the same sentence.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/7 "2013-08-22T03:52:52Z")
Theyâre just outsmarting the NSA is all.
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### Author:  [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/8 "2013-08-22T12:51:56Z")
I sincerely doubt it has much to do with fear of technology. Supreme Court justices have to decide cases about some pretty complicated stuff, after all. Many judges just tend to care quite a bit about the, I donât know, dignity of the station. Email isnât very dignified. Itâs not like judges are doing a lot of typing in general - they have people for that.
I worked for a judge in his 40s who didnât use email professionally, ever. The secretary would print out his emails and heâd draft responses (for her to type and send) if necessary, same as any other correspondence, but the only time I ever saw him actually personally logged in was the occasional Friday night when heâd click through and delete everything and tell me if he got any good football jokes.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/9 "2013-08-22T14:04:52Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#):
>
> I believe this is the first time since 2007 that the words âBlackberryâ and âvery current on technologyâ have been used in the same sentence.
Iâm not sure why but I tend to see Blackberries mostly in courthouses and hospitals more than anywhere else these days. I know I used to have one because they were the only smart phone that came without a camera for the longest time and certain places wouldnât let you carry camera phones around. Perhaps doctors and lawyers are too busy with their professions to bother keeping up with the latest gadget.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/10 "2013-08-22T15:02:29Z")
Obama is the first president to use email. Itâs infuriating when the government is this hidebound- not because the act of using email is so important, but because it raises some big questions about how familiar the government is with the technology itâs regulating or ruling on.
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### Author:  [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/11 "2013-08-22T15:55:22Z")
Mr. Obama may not personally be particularly adept with technology ( which is not his job ), but he has people seconded from Microsoft, Twitter, Google, and now McAfee in his administration; plus has advisory meetings with those and other tech firmsâ chiefs to keep him up to date; and his appointees are given jobs by tech firms, such as Victoria Espinel who is expected to join the BSA/Software Alliance as CEO, after a stint in government as the White House IP Enforcement Chief.
_**[During her time](http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/316705-obamas-intellectual-property-chief-steps-down)** at the White House, Espinel encouraged various private-sector members to develop a set of best practices on ways to combat online piracy and the sale of counterfeit products on the Web. Last month the White House partnered with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and other online advertising companies to unveil a set of best practices aimed at keeping ads off of pirate sites._
_She also advocated for Congress to make illegal streaming of online content a felony, when appropriate, in a 2011 white paper that outlined legislative recommendations on intellectual property enforcement._
Not only is the White House against the destructive nature of Open Source, but it struck a blow against it by using OS for the last campaign, but high-mindedly refused to release the codebase developed with itâs help.
**[The Verge](http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/22/3902746/obama-heads-back-office-battle-rages-over-tech-that-got-him-reelected)**
There seems little doubt that the administration is well-served by the best tech advice possible from the giants who own the tech.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/12 "2013-08-22T16:27:57Z")
What does any of that have to do with the OP, **Claverhouse**?
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### Author:  [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/13 "2013-08-22T17:12:16Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#):
>
> Iâm not sure why but I tend to see Blackberries mostly in courthouses and hospitals more than anywhere else these days.
Because a lot of businesses have contracts with Blackberry to get sweet industry deals and such, mostly because Blackberry knows thatâs their only customer base anymore.
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### Author:  [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/14 "2013-08-22T19:38:19Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> What does any of that have to do with the OP, **Claverhouse**?
I was responding to the post above mine which indicated the government was hidebound, and by inference technologically challenged. Which is unlikely considering the U.S.'s overweening technological superiority.
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### Author:  [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/supreme-court-justices-dont-use-email/666815/15 "2013-08-22T20:39:45Z")
This just in: [Kagan Says Supreme Court Justices Played Video Games For Research](http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/it-was-kind-of-hilarious-kagan-says-supreme?ref=fpb). As the FARK headline put it, âYou know that 13-year-old that was kicking your ass on Xbox Live, questioning your sexuality as well as your relationship with your mother, all while dropping f-bombs like they were going out of style? Thereâs a very real chance it was Justice Scalia.â