Boston Legal is a show filled with overwrought acting and heavy-handed plots. Or is it heavy-handed acting and overwrought plots? Either way, it’s a show I don’t like much, despite its inclusion of William Shatner.

But I do like this scene, mostly because it depicts the actual Supreme Court with the current justices. Most lawyer shows, when they deal with the Supreme Court, make it a fictional place with nameless judges. And because the show uses the real judges (actors playing them, of course), it is free to ask some very intelligent questions that I think need to be asked in real life. With the appointment process getting somewhat out of hand, and the judges constantly refusing to recuse themselves when they have clear conflicts of interest, the Supreme Court has become just another political body. Except that, as James Spader notes in this scene, none of them are elected.

Anyway, enjoy it if you haven’t seen it already.