Nancy Gertner

Okay, I have a new heroine, and her name is Nancy Gertner. I have never in my life wanted to be a criminal defense lawyer, but she made it sound incredibly rewarding, AND she did tons of civil rights work too, AND was appointed to the federal bench.

In the preface, Gertner talks about a panel that she and Sonia Sotomayor both sat on in the late 90s, where they were asked about how one became a judge. This is one of my new favorite passages of all time, slightly paraphrased for brevity:

Sotomayor: You graduate with a stellar record. You work as a prosecutor in the celebrated Manhattan DA's office. You take care not to be publicly associated with controversial issues. You demonstrate that you can be a neutral, temperate jurist.

Gertner: You graduate with a stellar record. Then, you represent the first lesbian, feminist, radical, anti-Vietnam War activist accused of killing a police officer you can find. You take every abortion case in Massachusetts; you speak out on the major hot-button issues of the day on television or in the editorial pages of the newspapers. You represent defendants of all stripes, from those in political corruption cases to high-profile murder cases, and for the final coup de grace, you marry the legal director of the state ACLU office. In short, do everything that in this epoch of strident judicial politics should disqualify you for the position.

Awesome.… (mer)