SELINSGROVE — The most significant features of the U.S. Constitution are the establishment of the rule of law, the separation of governmental powers into three branches that check and balance each other and its ability to accommodate change over the years, said U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on Monday.

Alito, the first Supreme Court justice to visit Susquehanna University, was on campus to pay tribute to Arlin M. Adams, a distinguished jurist and legal scholar, and his wife, Neysa C. Adams, both of whom were being honored by the university.

Adams was particularly important in Alito’s formative years as a young lawyer. When Alito was a law clerk at the 3rd District Court of Appeals, shortly after Adams had left to pursue other interests, “I studied his cases. I dreamed of one day being a judge that could be as good as he was,” the justice said.

Alito used the occasion to talk about the Constitution, two days before Constitution Day is celebrated nationwide. He spoke for 25 minutes in a pleasant, conversational tone. At certain moments, he joked. Then, just as quickly, he was all legal scholar and historian.

Alito spoke with reverence about the framers of the Constitution. John Adams, “who wrote the Massachusetts Constitution before the U.S. Constitution was written, wrote that the purpose of the structure of government he had devised was ‘to the end that it might be a government of law and not of men.’ ”

That has been the enduring strength of the Constitution, and why the U.S. legal system is the envy of people around the world, Alito said.

“The framers made it difficult to amend the Constitution,” he noted. “There is a permanence to it so that it will endure through the ages. After all, it has been amended only 27 times. But those who wrote the Constitution also understood the nature of the American people. Americans throughout history have been a people of change.

“If the framers of the Constitution tried to anticipate every change that might come up, it would not have survived as long as it has,” he said.

Alito concluded his remarks by saying: “Our Constitution will survive as long as ordinary Americans believe in our Constitution, and I believe that is as true today as it was back when it was first adopted.”

In audience of 1,500 at Weber Chapel Auditorum were Susquehanna University students and staff, about 40 Bucknell students and invited high school students from Hollidaysburg Senior High School, Danville High School and Selinsgrove High School.

Earlier in the day, nine students from Susquehanna University enjoyed a rare on-campus opportunity to interact with a member of the highest court in the land, when Alito joined them in a roundtable discussion of various legal issues.

“We had some engaging conversations,” Alito said, without revealing what cases were discussed. “I enjoyed meeting the students.”

Repeated requests from The Daily Item for interviews with Justice Alito were declined by his representatives. Alito also prohibited anyone from taking photographs of him during his time at the university.