Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist was especially impressed with Judge Winter, and named him to a number of top positions in the judiciary, including chairman of the executive committee of the United States Judicial Conference. The White House ended up selecting Anthony M. Kennedy, which may have been all right with Judge Winter, several of his former clerks said. Indeed, for all his achievements at the top of the legal profession, Judge Winter was just as comfortable with the quotidian, eating at downtown diners and watching the New York Giants on TV. He ran the clock at his son’s high school hockey games, never letting on to the referees that he was among the country’s leading judicial minds. “Someone once said that Ralph was a truck driver with a 160 I.Q.,” said Robert J. Giuffra Jr., one of his former clerks, in a phone interview.

Source: New York Times December 18, 2020 16:18 UTC