Alito's Law School Performance

The New York Times' profile of Alito had this interesting remark:

Whether Samuel Alito's politics were apparent or not, his brains certainly were.

"This was 33 years ago, but I'm sitting in the back of a classroom [at Yale Law School] and this guy sitting in the front who never opened his mouth in the first two or three months raises his hand and is called on," recalled Peter Goldberger, who is now a lawyer in Ardmore, Pa. "And I said, 'Oh my God. That's what smart is about.' You're in a room of 75 people you don't know and then you realize there's another level of smart."