The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court visited students at the Notre Dame Law School this morning for a one-day appointment to the James J. Clynes Visiting Chair at the school.

As part of his visit, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Notre Dame Law School Associate Dean William Kelley had a conversation in front of law students at the Marie P. DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts. Following the discussion, Chief Justice Roberts answered written questions from students submitted prior to the event. The event was by invitation only.

The chair position was established through a gift from Judge James J. Clynes Jr., who graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1945 with his bachelor's degree in economics and from Cornell University with his law degree in 1948. He was a partner in the Ithaca, N.Y., firm Harris Beach & Wilcox, a city attorney and prosecutor, and the Ithaca city judge from 1969 to 1989.

Previous holders of the Clynes Chair include former Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, and 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge John T. Noonan Jr.