[msb-alumni] Re: Bernstein making history on Michigan's top court
- From: "Marcia Moses" <mgmoses@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 20:26:56 -0500
BlankHey Steve, Lucy sent this article earlier.
Guess you haven’t gotten that far in your e-mail, smile.
Marcia
From: Steve
Sent: Monday, December 29, 2014 8:21 PM
To: msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [msb-alumni] Bernstein making history on Michigan's top court
Ok, this article kind of ticked me off. If others feel like I do, write your
letter to the editor. I haven't written yet, but my reaction is below.
Steve
Bernstein making history on Michigan's top court DETROIT (AP) Richard Bernstein
officially joins the Michigan Supreme Court in a few days. But he's been
working off the clock since November, preparing for 10 cases in an
extraordinary way memorizing the key points of every brief read to him by an
aide. Bernstein, 41, has been blind since birth. After winning the election, an
assistant at his family's Detroit-area law firm began reading briefs to him for
mid-January arguments, including a medical marijuana case and a labor dispute
covering thousands of state employees. "It would be much easier if I could read
and write like everyone else, but that's not how I was created," Bernstein
said. "No question, it requires a lot more work, but the flip side is it
requires you to operate at the highest level of preparedness. This is what I've
done my entire life. This goes all the way back to grade school for me.
Michigan has never had a blind judge on its highest court, and few other states
have. In Missouri, Justice Richard Teitelman has been legally blind since age
13. Judge David Tatel, who is blind, sits on a federal appeals court in
Washington, D.C. "Every new justice has to make a transition from whatever life
he or she had before," Chief Justice Robert Young Jr. said. "His will be
different than others, but he's extraordinarily successful and very driven. You
don't enter Ironman competitions without having a steel backbone. Indeed,
Bernstein's remarkable background undoubtedly appealed to voters. He has run
more than 15 marathons, and in 2008 completed a triathlon by riding a bike 112
miles, running 26.2 miles and swimming 2.4 miles with the help of guides. In
2012, he made headlines in New York City after being struck by a speeding
bicyclist while running in Central Park, a collision that put him in a hospital
for weeks. Bernstein is widely known in southeastern Michigan because his
family's personal-injury law firm regularly advertises on TV. He spent more
than $1.8 million of his own money to campaign for the state Supreme Court. His
slogan? "Blind Justice. As one of only two Democrats on the seven-member court,
Bernstein is unlikely to crack the court's conservative sway. But he's still
expected to make a difference. "His own experience and background is different
than anyone else's at the conference table," said Justice Bridget McCormack,
who was a law professor before being elected in 2012. "Richard knows a whole
lot about disability law the rest of us don't. We don't get a lot of those
cases. Who knows how it will be useful? Bernstein will be sworn into office on
New Year's Day. Timothy MacLean, his assistant for three years, has been
reading briefs aloud to prepare him for the court's first batch on oral
arguments on Jan. 13. "We do use technology but technology can only take you so
far," Bernstein said. "I internalize the cases word for word, pretty much
commit them primarily by memory. I'm asking the reader to pinpoint certain
things, read footnotes, look at the legislative record. Hearing arguments and
writing opinions is only part of a Supreme Court justice's job. They meet
weekly to decide whether to accept or reject appeals in more than 2,000 cases a
year. Because he's blind, Bernstein will be having many conversations with his
law clerks instead of communicating through email or long memos. "My chambers
will be unique," he said. "Not many clerks will have as much interaction with a
justice as mine will. Follow Ed White at http://twitter.com/edwhiteap
I think Justice Bernstein does an injustice to blind people. It sets the
impression that only the super-blind can succeed and then only with the help of
aides. I know Richard is Braille and apparently technology-averse, but those
of us who are competent can use technology to perform productively in
upper-level careers in the private sector and government. I think this article
leaves a misimpression in the public's mind.
Steve
Class of '72
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