[msb-alumni] Fwd: [acb-l] Blind Judge Makes History,Joins Michigan's Supreme Court

Lucy Edmonds <lucyjean11@xxxxxxxxx> · Mon, 29 Dec 2014 13:36:17 -0500

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Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Edmonds, Lucy (LARA)" <edmondsl2@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: December 29, 2014 at 1:25:33 PM EST
> To: "'lucyjean11@xxxxxxxxx'" <lucyjean11@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: FW: [acb-l] Blind Judge Makes History,Joins Michigan's Supreme Court
> 
>  
>  
> From: acb-l [mailto:acb-l-bounces@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Nancy Lynn via acb-l
> Sent: Monday, December 29, 2014 1:23 PM
> To: ACB List
> Subject: [acb-l] Blind Judge Makes History,Joins Michigan's Supreme Court
>  
> I got this from another list and thought it would interest you.
> Blind Judge Makes History, Joins Michigan's Supreme 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."
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[msb-alumni] Fwd: [acb-l] Blind Judge Makes History,Joins Michigan's Supreme Court

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