Taking Amtrak, going through Baltimore, reminded that Baltimore used to be the big city and Washington was the small town. My mother worked for the government in the 1970s-80s and had a friend, Pat Smith, who’d moved to DC during WW2 when they were filling up all the government agencies. Pat told my mom that, way back then, they’d go up to Baltimore to shop, because in Baltimore the stores had the newest dresses. I guess Woodies didn’t cut it.
Thurgood Marshall was from Baltimore, as I was reminded as we went by the stop for the Thurgood Marshall Airport (formerly BWI, formerly Friendship). Brett Kavanaugh was from the DC suburbs. Times have changed, what it takes to be a big city, what it takes to be a federal judge.