When you live in “fly over” country, you are constantly looking for local folks who make good. Lyle Denniston is, of course, the dean of reporters who cover the Supreme Court. He has been doing that for 56 years. Several days ago, the Burton Awards program, run in association with the Library of Congress, announced that Mr. Denniston is the winner of the first “Outstanding Journalist in Law Award.” Here.
Denniston is a graduate cum laude of the University of Nebraska. He has been a journalist for sixty-six years, beginning that career with the Nebraska City News-Press in Nebraska City, Nebraska, in the fall of 1948.
RGK
PS Many thanks to Elaine Mittleman for the tip.
Hercules and the umpire. 
And yet the Senate Press Gallery and the Court seem unclear on whether Mr. Denniston is a reporter for purposes of a press credential. (Which I think makes no sense and does not speak well of the Senate Press Gallery, etc.)
Patrick,
The government works in strange ways. What foolishness!
All the best.
RGK