I was 24 when I started my career at a family office in Fort Worth. One of the office rules: always, always, always bring a pen and paper to every meeting. Even if you're just walking over to someone's desk for a chat. Always bring a pen and paper.
I learned over the next decade that when I made a habit of taking notes, I made far fewer mistakes in the future. I always didn't have to ask someone to repeat something to me later.
I've gotten far in life taking notes, keeping track of things in task lists and calendars, and organizing my thoughts outside of my brain. Using your brain as a file system is not a great idea. The brain is an amazing processor of information but a fairly unreliable hard drive.
I am not at all impressed by anyone that does everything by memory... those kinds of people tend to be both overconfident in their abilities and tend to make more mistakes. That's been my experience in the last 37 years.
This isn't a statement about Amy as a justice... as a matter of fact, there are stances that she takes that I, as a probably-libertarian, actually appreciate. I don't think she's a terrible justice all around if you look at the cases intently. I don't think it's a given that she will tow the Trump line.
But at the end of the day, her empty notepad doesn't impress me. When I see an empty notepad, or I see someone showing up to a meeting without a pen and paper, I assume that they either aren't taking the meeting seriously or they think they will remember everything (which they won't).
In summary, I've found that many successful people in life actually use their notepad.