WASHINGTON - When the Supreme Court reconvenes a month early to rule on a contentious campaign finance case, the justices will be welcoming the high court's newest member- Sonia Sotomayor. And the chief justice says the change is sometimes difficult for the other members.

"To some extent it's unsettling. You quickly get to view the court as 'the court' as composed to these members and it becomes kind of hard to think of it as including somebody else," said Chief Justice Roberts.

The justices say the new justice's presence provides a fresh perspective, but change is hard on an elite body that is set in its ways.

"If a juror had to be replaced because one was ill, or something, it was a different jury. It's just a different dynamic and it's the same here. This will be a very different court, and it's stressful for us," said Justice Kennedy.

Justice Thomas says he recalls a certain level of comfort during the O'Connor/Rehnquist years. "We had a long run together and you get comfortable with that and then it changes, and now its changing again," he said. "You have to start all over. The chemistry is different."

But the other woman on the court says that despite contentious split decisions, she and the newcomer really do get along. "I would say you will be surprised by the high level of collegiality here."

But the current junior justice warns when you're the new kid, you're the last one called on in rulings. "By the time they got to me I was either irrelevant or I was very important, depending on how the vote had come out," Justice Alito said.

One especially candid admission cam from former justice Sandra Day O'Connor who said that when she wasn't replaced by another woman, she worried she hadn't done a good enough job.

The justices admit that when they meet alone without staff in their conference room, it becomes like a game of tag, and Justice Sotomayor is 'it.'

"It's the job of the junior justice to get up and answer the door. And usually it's somebody's glasses or a memo or something like that," said Justice Alito.

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