Jan Crawford Greenburg

Where were you when the Supreme Court ruled on grandparent rights, student fees, and the Playboy channel? Jan Crawford Greenburg was right there
as it happened.

Learn how this former
farm girl grew up to report on the nation's highest court.

"Like a lot of people, I had general goals about doing something good and positive for society, but I wasn't sure about how to do that."
Jan Crawford Greenburg

Multimedia: Jan Crawford Greenburg discusses the Supreme Court's ruling on the American Disabilities Act.

Understanding the Supreme Court

Student Rights and the Supreme Court

Spotlight: Law

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Considering a career in Law...

When you were a teen what did you want to be?
I didn't know what I wanted to be: maybe a doctor, maybe a lawyer. I certainly never thought about a career as a journalist. Growing up on a farm in rural Alabama, it never occurred to me that such a career existed. My high school didn't have a student newspaper, and I didn't know any reporters. My freshman year the University of Alabama, I switched majors more than once. I even enrolled briefly in the engineering school, which is funny — and shows how uncertain I was — when you consider that I still have trouble doing things like percentages.

Law was vaguely appealing to me (I always did like to argue, my parents would say), so I thought I should probably get some writing experience for law school. And that's how I stumbled onto the profession I love. I nervously walked into the student newspaper office and asked if I could be a staff writer. From then on, I was hooked. I could ask people questions for a living, find out all kinds of information before anyone else, do something different every day and meet fascinating people with great stories to tell, and get paid for it. I could barely believe it, and I still feel that way today.

I got a job as an intern at the Chicago Tribune after I graduated from Alabama, and I was lucky enough to land a full-time position three months later. After working several years, and seeing the legal system up close as a reporter, I decided to take a leave of absence for law school. Ultimately, though, I decided my heart was in journalism, so I returned to the Chicago Tribune when I graduated. After covering local legal affairs, the paper sent me to Washington in 1994 to cover the Supreme Court and national legal issues. So, although I don't represent clients, I get to use my law degree every day, in a profession I love. There's nothing I'd rather do.

What does a law reporter do?
A journalist who covers the Supreme Court is responsible for reporting and explaining its decisions, many of which have enormous implications for everyday life. In the next few months alone, for example, the court will hand down dozens of important decisions, including whether states can ban certain types of abortions, police still have to give suspects "Miranda warnings" and the Boy Scouts can ban gays as troop leaders.

There are many more controversial ones, like whether public school students can pray over loudspeakers before football games. In covering those cases, reporters don't simply wait for the court's opinions to be handed down. They also report the things that lead up to a decision, such as the hour-long argument before the nine justices when lawyers from both sides get to make their case.

Overall, the job of a Supreme Court journalist is much different than that of a reporter covering Congress or the White House. To report on the other two branches of government, for example, journalists try to get stories in advance by getting sources to leak them information. They also talk to aides, staffers or, sometimes, the leaders themselves for more details or explanation. But at the Supreme Court, the justices only explain themselves through their decisions. They don't like publicity, and they don't talk to reporters for stories. What's more, they don't allow cameras in the courtroom, so radio and television reporters have to describe what they see happen, instead of showing video clips of the action.

What is it like to report on the highest court in the U.S. ?
Sometimes when I am covering an argument, I still think, "Wow." The justices are sitting just a few yards away from us reporters in the press box, and they're hammering seasoned lawyers with hard questions to expose flaws in their cases.

The stakes often are incredibly high, because the court's ultimate decision could have a sweeping impact on American life. Reporting all of that can be exciting and stimulating and, I must say, a lot of fun. You're seeing it all first-hand, watching history being made, and, then, explaining what happened and why it's important.

That's pretty challenging, too, because the arguments and opinions are crammed full of complex legal terms, and it's my job to explain them — and their importance — to readers and viewers in language that non-lawyers can understand.

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