Chief Justice John Roberts agreed to speak at BYU in part because of his relationship with Rex Lee, the founding dean of the BYU law school and later president of the university.

Lee died in 1996. Soon afterward, during a meeting with all 50 state attorneys general, U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter was asked how advocacy before the high court had changed.

"Well, I can tell you that the biggest change by far is that Rex Lee is gone. Rex Lee was the best solicitor general this nation has ever had, and he is the best lawyer this justice ever heard plead a case in this court.

"Rex Lee was born to argue tough cases of immense importance to this nation. He set new standards of excellence for generations of lawyers and justices. No one thing has happened to change the nature of advocacy of this court which has had as much impact as the loss of that one player."

Nearly a decade later, Karl Rove was preparing a list of potential nominees to the Supreme Court for President George W. Bush's consideration and started to look at John Roberts. He discussed possible nominees with David Leitch, who had worked with Roberts at a Washington, D.C., law firm.

Roberts, his former colleague believed, stood out above the rest.

"He's the best Supreme Court advocate of his generation," Leitch said.