Kagan: Not having to get door 1 plus of new status

CHICAGO – Justice Elena Kagan says one advantage of no longer being the most junior member of the Supreme Court is that she no longer has to answer the door when someone knocks as the nine justices are meeting.

The 57-year-old spoke Monday at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. Kagan didn’t veer into potentially sensitive topics and wasn’t asked to by students.

She also relinquishes her chairmanship of the high-court cafeteria committee. She said that might include asking cooks, “What happened to the good recipe for chocolate chip cookies?”

Who would knock while justices are meeting? Kagan said it might be someone bringing justices their eyeglasses or coffee.

It’s now Donald Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch’s duty, by tradition, to attend to the door. But Kagan joked that she still flinches whenever anyone knocks.