No, not like on Facebook. In today’s news clips from the Supreme Court of Ohio was this link to an article in the Wall Street Journal, titled

“Roberts Turns Supreme Court into Friendliest Bar in Washington “ http://online.wsj.com/articles/roberts-turns-supreme-court-into-friendliest-bar-in-washington-1405477802

It seems that Chief Justice Roberts has taken to referring to the lawyers arguing on opposite sides of cases before the Court as “friends,” and that most of the other justices (except Alito and Sotomayor) have followed suit.

Has this trend hit the Ohio high court?  Early on, I noticed that Justice Judy French, who does have the sunniest style of questioning, refers to opposing counsel as “your friend on the other side.” So she is right in sync with Chief Justice Roberts. To the best of my recollection, she is the only justice who does this.  Chief Justice O’Connor usually uses the phrase “opposing counsel.”  But who knows? This may be a new precedent from the big supremes.