We’re flipping the script this weekend: since we had a special mid-week edition of the Three Whisky Happy Hour, today we’re offering up a classic format conversational episode, and it’s a really fun one.

Who is the only federal judge to have played basketball in the Olympics for Cuba? Who is the only federal judge known for driving around town in a 1960s-era convertable Rolls Royce? Who is the only federal judge who was nearly deported?

Judge Carlos Bea

The answer is an n of 1, as statisticians would say: Judge Carlos T. Bea of Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, who the Los Angeles Daily Journal was correct to call “the most interesting judge on the 9th Circuit.” Born in San Sebastian, Spain in 1934, his family left Spain for North America after the Spanish Civil War and on the eve of World War II. And the story only gets more interesting from there.

Judge Bea recently took senior status on the 9th Circuit, and the San Francisco chapter of the Federalist Society decided to throw a reception and celebration of his long and distinguished career in the law, inviting me to serve as an interlocutor with Judge Bea for a conversation that covers the highlights of his colorful life story along with his views on jurisprudence. He also supplies lessons on how to survive and prosper as a Republican in San Francisco.

The episode is not yet crossposted at Ricochet (we’ll update when it is), but you can listen here or download it from Spotify, iTunes, Googleplay and most of the other regular podcast platforms if that’s your jam.