In his 11th year as chief justice, John Roberts Jr. is sounding wistful about the days earlier in his career when lawyers who argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and law clerks who worked for the justices were less polished than they are now.

Speaking at a recent judicial conference, Roberts said there are advantages in having “repeat players” argue many of the complex cases before the high court. But he confessed some longing for the days when justices would see a “Mr. Smith comes to Washington” moment, where “you have a sole practitioner with a battered briefcase coming up and you get a good sense of what his practice is like.”

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