Was listening to USPS v. Flamingo Industries last night (eventually ruling that the Postal Service couldn’t be sued under federal antitrust laws). Flamingo made mail sacks, apparently, and their representation argued that since the USPS is involved in ventures other than mail delivery, it was open for suits to be brought against it. Interesting, but the end really got me:
Edwin Kneeler, representing the USPS, finishing up: If there are no further questions.
Associate Justice Stephen Breyer: Do they really sell biking gear? They don’t sell biking gear. Do they sell biking gear?
Kneeler: I… I’m not sure whether they… I… I don’t know whether they sell biking gear. The fact that they… the fact that they use the Postal Service team in… in… in promoting Postal Service products, I think, doesn’t say anything about whether they’re subject—
Breyer: They might deliver some mail on bicycles, I mean— [Laughter]
Kneeler: —It’s entirely possible.
Chief Justice William Rhenquist: Thank you, Mr. Kneedler. The case is submitted. [Whereupon, at 10:59 a.m., the case in the above-entitled matter was submitted.]
Breyer must have had that question lingering for a good twenty minutes. (Flamingo’s lawyer brought up “biking gear” much earlier on.)
From the Oyez Project’s biography:
Both Harvard and Stanford accepted Breyer, and though Breyer preferred the former, he bowed to his parent’s wishes and chose the latter. His mother had hoped to steer Breyer away from a narrow academic focus. At Stanford, Breyer achieved his mother’s wishes more than she would have liked perhaps, when he was arrested for underage drinking.
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