Joined by Justices Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, retired justice Sandra Day O'Connor lifts up the Seneca Women Global Leadership Award she received. (2015). Photo: Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/NLJ

Soon after the U.S. Supreme Court's first session in 1790 in New York City, the justices repaired to nearby Fraunces Tavern for dinner and 13 toasts.

Thus began a tradition that continues today, of justices eating together regularly—certainly more than in most workplaces.

A just-published book aptly named “Table for 9” recounts the history of that tradition, and throws in some recipes to boot. The author is Clare Cushman, the Supreme Court Historical Society's publications director, whose previous books have also chronicled the human side and biographies of justices through history.

In this new book, Cushman has done it again, and it is worth a read, as much for the glimpses it gives into the lives of the justices as the recipes that are included.

Where else could one find photos of teenage Sandra Day (the future Justice O'Connor) eating lunch out in a field with ranch hands at the Lazy B Ranch? Or: Antonin Scalia showing off his hunting prowess; Sonia Sotomayor cooking Chinese food while a student at Yale Law School; Warren Burger, eating a formal lunch alone in his chambers; and justices admiring a 28-pound king salmon that Stephen Breyer caught while at an Alaska bar association meeting in 2001.

O'Connor is the heroine of the book in some ways. The tradition of justices eating lunch together had waxed and waned in the years since the Supreme Court building—complete with a private dining room—opened in 1935. But O'Connor, who arrived in 1981, worked mightily to revive the tradition.

Justice Clarence Thomas recalled balking at the idea, but soon caved. “Now you have a group of people who really enjoy each other's company,” Thomas said.

The book offers a priceless chart of the lunch preferences of justices current and past. Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes ate one poached egg and a glass of milk every day, and retired Justice David Souter also had an unbreakable habit: he would famously eat plain, nonfat yogurt and an apple in its entirety, including seeds. Scalia described Souter's lunch as “disgusting.”

Some of the recipes are grim, truth be told—a reflection, perhaps, of the dull taste buds of pre-foodie Washington. Burger, a wine connoisseur, inflicted upon his colleagues a dish called “Oysters Le Burger,” a mishmash that combined oysters, frozen chopped spinach, Lawry's seasoned salt, sherry and dozen other ingredients.

The recipe for Justice Robert Jackson's favorite lunch was a lot simpler, though just as unappetizing: “Pick cowslip leaves; Wash them if you wish; Plunk them between two slices of home-baked bread.” (Cowslip is a little-known herb that can double as a salad green.)

A beef jerky recipe offered by O'Connor's brother Alan Day is also a mystery, consisting of beef purchased at Costco that is sliced and dipped in an unnamed sauce whose ingredients he would not reveal. “I have a file with a recipe in it, but that's only to be opened after I turn to cowboy dust,” Day wrote.

O'Connor herself upped the quality of Supreme Court cooking with recipes for dishes like California Green Chile and Cheese Pie, and Chalupas—even though two cans of cream of mushroom soup found their way into the ingredient list.

Martin Ginsburg, the late husband of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is also featured in the book. He taught himself classic French cooking “out of self-preservation” because Ruth Ginsburg had little interest in cooking. After he died in 2010, Martha-Ann Alito and the society compiled his recipes into a book titled “Chef Supreme.”

Louise Gorsuch, the British-born wife of new Justice Neil Gorsuch, also made a cameo appearance in the book. She offered her own recipe for orange marmalade, devised when she moved from Britain 20 years ago. “When I moved to America,” she wrote, “I found the marmalade in the stores too sweet so I started making my own.”

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