U.S. Supreme Court
Blackmun Gave Guiliani a Middle Grade for Argument
The late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun rated Rudolph Giuliani a five out of 10 when he argued a case for the Justice Department as an associate attorney general.
Blackmun’s assessment of the lawyer who would go one to become a presidential candidate is contained in the justice’s papers on file at the Library of Congress, Legal Times reports.
University of Minnesota professor Timothy Johnson told the legal newspaper that the grade should be considered above average because Blackmun was tough in his ratings. Blackmun gave Giuliani’s opponent a four.
Giuliani had argued that a federal bank larceny law could be used to prosecute a man who altered a check before depositing it. Giuliani won the case 8-1. Blackmun was in the majority.
