Washington Whispers

There's a reason why Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas doesn't talk much from the bench: He thinks judges should be seen and not heard. "My colleagues should shut up!" he says. In a rare scolding of his fellow judges, Thomas Wednesday night took off after those who ask questions and debate cases out loud during oral arguments while defending his own, oft-criticized, silent treatment.

Asked at an event honoring Winston Churchill sponsored by independent Michigan school Hillsdale College if he would talk more from the bench to "give us relief" from the other chatty judges, Thomas said, "I don't think it's my job to give you relief." Thomas noted that through history, most top judges rarely asked questions. "What's changed? Have the laws changed? What's changed? And why are all these questions necessary? That should be the question," he demanded of the near epidemic level of judicial questioning at Supreme Court hearings.

He later characterized his "shut up" comment as simply "shock value," but then dug deeper into the issue. "I think that they should ask questions, but I don't think that for judging, and for what we are doing, all those questions are necessary," he said. "You don't have to ask all those questions to judge properly." Thomas compared judging to another profession where debate isn't aired in public. "Suppose you're undergoing something very serious like surgery and the doctors started a practice of conducting seminars while in the operating room, debating each other about certain procedures and whether or not this procedure is this way or that way. You really didn't go in there to have a debate about gallbladder surgery. You actually went in to have a procedure done. We are judges. This is the last court in a long line in our system. We are there to decide cases, not to engage in seminar discussions. Now, each of us has a different way of thinking about things. Some people like to talk it out. Some people enjoy the questioning and the back and forth. Some people think that if they listen deeply and hear the people who are presenting their arguments, they might hear something that's not already in several hundred pages of records."

Thomas said that once the cases get to the Supreme Court, there are no surprises left. "This is not Perry Mason."

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They don't agree on much, but there's one event even the Iowa Republican and Democratic parties are coming together on: partying on New Year's Eve. Better yet, we get to go! Carrie Giddins, spokesperson for the Iowa Democratic Party, and her counterpart, Mary Tiffany, at the Iowa Republican Party, are throwing a New Year's Eve party for the swarms of media folk who will be spending the bulk of the holiday season in the Hawkeye State reporting in the days leading up to the all-important January 3 caucuses.

The E-vite says it all: "And you thought you'd have nothing to do but work on New Year's Eve in Des Moines! Put down your laptops, notebooks and cameras on the 31st and head over to the Temple for Performing Arts. There will be yummy Iowa Hors d'Oeuvres, tasty drinks, a champagne toast at midnight and music to get your groove on." Oh, it's also a cash bar, so fret not media watchdogs worried we can be bought for a Raccoon River Bandit IPA.

Giddins E-mailed us: "Mary Tiffany and I decided that with the caucuses so close to NYE's, reporters would be looking for something to do in Des Moines that night. We came together on this endeavor without the parties but recognizing that our positions put us in a place that we should play host that evening and what better way than a great party in downtown Des Moines. We plan to highlight Iowa foods—Maytag blue cheese, corn dogs, pork chops and more. This is not a rare bipartisan moment, after all we are working on caucus night together, but a chance to make sure reporters have a good time in Iowa on NYE before a sprint through the nominating calendar."

And kudos also to CaucusIowa.com, the media concierge service.

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He's one of our favorite East Wing staffers, and now White House food and beverage manager Daniel Shanks is answering the question every wine newbie has: Is red wine served at room temperature or chilled? The simple answer: chilled. In the upcoming issue of White House History, the sommelier reveals that the old room temperature trick is old thinking.

"Red wines," he writes, "need to be slightly cool to the palate. With the tremendous fruit and varietal purity of today's wines, one of the most damaging mistakes to make is to serve a red wine too warm. 'Room temperature' is a misnomer coined when homes were less well insulated and cooler. We can all remember sitting in a fine dining room, ordering a long-anticipated wine, and having it arrive the temperature of bath water due to bad storage conditions. The wine presented muddled flat flavors, astringent with acid and devoid of life. We want the wine to speak to us of fresh fruit and crushed berry, not leaf and herb mulch."

He's just as opinionated on whites: chilled, not cold. "The old practice of chilling white wines to near slush grew from drinking poorly made wines," he writes.

You might remember another tip Shanks gave us a while back on how to decant reds.

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ILLUSTRATION BY JOE CIARDIELLO FOR USN&WR

As the new director of the Office of Management and Budget, Jim Nussle concedes that he's something of a budget geek. "It's embarrassing," he tells us, "but, yes, it does get me going." Yet the former Iowa congressman and House Budget Committee chair isn't an introvert. He visits the coffee shop back home in Manchester to get homespun advice on how to run the government. "It's kind of a gut check," he says, "because I think we get wrapped around the axle out here sometimes on a billion here and a billion there."

His regular-guy, no-nonsense approach to the job has been a trademark of President Bush's three other OMB chiefs. Mitch Daniels is now governor of Indiana, Josh Bolten is Bush's chief of staff and a rock band leader, and Rob Portman, also an ex-congressman, kayaked. The Nussle difference: He's a battler who doesn't mind throwing a partisan punch, an effective tool with the president and Democrats battling over promised budget vetoes.

The fight is so hot that he's got little time for his "mental health" hobby: playing guitar. "I was in a band that impersonated the Blues Brothers," reveals Nussle. His role: John Belushi. He's eager for a new band, but Bolten hasn't invited him to join the Compassionates yet. "I think he must be a little snobby," jokes Nussle. "Maybe it could be that he plays a little bit older music."

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