ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the institutional dimensions of what seems like a sort of institutional gaydar. The transformation for the Supreme Court is, in fact, more like the institutional acquisition of gaydar. The legal scholars investigate the institutional life of the Court as they report on twenty-two homosexual former Supreme Court clerks, eighteen gay men and four lesbians. Rumors of Justice Frank Murphy’s homosexuality or those that have swirled around the bachelor-hood of Justice David Souter do not constitute the orientation of the Court. But how the rumors are treated and whether they are acknowledged becomes important. Ultimately, it is institutional practice that is relevant. The institutional gaydar is tempered with the rarefied experiences and personal connections that characterize this elite institution. By recognizing the sexuality as part of its institutional life, the Supreme Court saw the acts as protected. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater meaning.
