This past week, Jeffrey Toobin, noted legal analyst who has frequently appeared on television as a contributor for CNN, was honored as this year's keynote for the John J. Rhodes Lecture hosted by Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University.


This year's lecture was held at the Tempe Center for the Arts, and the topic of Toobin's speech involved a history of the modern U.S. Supreme Court. Toobin has provided expertise to networks such as CNN in analyzing the Supreme Court and its rulings on important cases, as well as potential choices to fill vacancies that have appeared throughout the court's recent history.


In his speech, Toobin stated that the Supreme Court is a deeply partisan body, despite the hopes of some that the court would serve as a "refuge from the partisan divisions in Congress." Toobin argued that the Supreme Court is just as divided along party lines as the rest of Washington.


Toobin has been a long time friend of Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan who is viewed as one of the more liberal justices, however, he praised President Donald Trump's pick of Neil Gorsuch, describing Gorsuch as brilliant and accomplished.


Following his speech, Toobin signed copies of his book "American Heiress", which was released late last year.

You can find photos from the event here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskSPW2qu