Blawgletter had the pleasure today of standing before the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. We urged their honors to send a case we've worked on for more than nine years back to the trial court . . . for trial.

We had not done that before (the standing before the Court thing). We'd argued a Fair Number of times in courts of appeals, both state and federal. But never in a supreme court, much less the one.

You may guess that worry about messing up gave us pangs of doubt. Many pangs. Which hurt.

You know what? Those pangs did a great job of forcing us to get ready. Making us try to master details. Think of the hardest questions. Ponder the best answers. Do moot courts. And in general conduct the hard work that might get our cause over the top.

Our case dealt with damages in an antitrust class action. Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, No. 11-864 (U.S.). We felt sure that the damages expert had done a superb job but even more confident that the trial judge had gone above and beyond in testing the expert's model, which he found sound. We hope that confidence came through to the justices.

You can read the transcript here, listen to audio here.

A favorite exchange:

JUSTICE SCALIA:    I never know how to say it. Is it Daubert or Daubert?

MR. BARNETT:        It depends on the time of day, Your Honor.

JUSTICE SCALIA:    Yes, I think you're right.

It was great fun.