Two Phone Calls
1999; Princeton University Press; Volume: 16; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0742-7115
Autores Tópico(s)Legal Systems and Judicial Processes
ResumoHere you are, about to graduate from law school, and your old grandfather is awfully proud of you. I remember the day you were born-yes, yes, as if it were yesterday, it's true. And I remember the first day-were you six?-that you held a tennis racquet in that strong right hand. From the determined expression on your face, I had a hunch that you might be a lawyer. I can't tell you how thrilled I am, and how proud I am, that you're graduating. I haven't gotten you a proper present. But I do have something for you-a story, an old one, and one that I haven't told anyone before. In just two weeks, after all, it's going to be the 50th anniversary of Bowers v. Hardwick, and there's going to be a big celebration, and I don't think my old boss Lewis Powell (younger then than I am now!) would mind. Janet and I, and the others, have kept it secret for all these years, and I must tell you that I'm pleased about that. But it's time, I think. It was a warm spring morning when Justice Powell called me into his office. This is a hard case for me, he said, because I've never met a homosexual. Of course I was stunnedhow could he possibly think that?but at first I kept my silence, even though several of Justice Powell's own law clerks had been gay. I really wasn't sure what to do. But that afternoon I talked to my co-clerk Janet, and after a lot of soul-searching and a good, long, hard talk, we decided that the Justice (that's what we
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