Bonus 15: Where is Ellis Island?

Kicking off a new bonus feature, the first review of a favorite opinion of mine by a former Justice involves a trick question answered in 1998 by Justice Souter: In which state is Ellis Island?

Welcome back to the weekly bonus content for “One First.” Although Monday’s regular newsletter will remain free for as long as I’m able to do this, much of Thursday’s content is behind a paywall to help incentivize those who are willing and able to support the work that goes into putting this newsletter together every week. I’m grateful to those of you who are already paid subscribers, and hope that those of you who aren’t yet will consider a paid subscription if your circumstances permit:

One of the central distinctions between the substance of Monday’s free issues and that of Thursday’s bonus content is the personalization of the latter. To that end, today begins a new subset of bonus content posts, in which I will, from time to time, write up my favorite opinion from a former Justice (I won’t get to all of them, with sincere apologies to the Justice Todd fans among you.)

This week’s version starts with Justice Souter, who served on the Court from 1990–2009. And with an honorable mention to his dissents in the Seminole Tribe and Alden state sovereign immunity cases, my vote for favorite Souter opinion involves a question of especial significance to me: Where is Ellis Island? The answer, it turns out, is complicated.