j. harvey wilkinson. [applause] >> perfect. good morning. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you for getting up so early today. i am delighted to be here. one of the great privileges of being the chief justice is that you get to be the circuit justice for the fourth circuit, a tradition going back to john marshall. the role of the circuit justice has changed dramatically since his time. circuit justice is no longer have to ride circuits, that arduous process began in the reign of king henry ii. it came over to the colonies with the english system. over here, riding the circuit was much more arduous given the greater distances. the system fell into disuse after the act of 1891, which set up the system of intermediate courts of appeals we have today. the practice formally ended 100 years ago this year with the judiciary act of 1911. we have worked out a pretty good deal. we will stop interfering directly with your work and you invite us to your conferences. [laughter] before i sit down and joined judge wilkinson, i want to make a few very brief remarks about the state of