Richard Bernstein, a blind judge based in the US, officially joins the Michigan Supreme Court in a few days. But he has 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. AP has more:
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.”
by Greenstarnetwork admin..
No comments:
Post a Comment