Stevens a Role Model For Law Students
When I started law school 60 years ago this fall, I was too dumb to have a role model, a hero, except for Perry Mason.
The Perry Mason TV show had begun two years before and a lot of us wanted, like Perry, to star in the courtroom, having no idea what the practice of law was all about, what the life of a lawyer required of us, and what it could offer us as rewards.
Those who begin legal study in a couple weeks, however, have retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who lived a life of grace and service and was a giant in a jaunty bow tie.
America has shared the unanimous tributes to this brilliant, yet humble native of Chicago who died of a stroke at 99. When he was just a kid, his family, who were titans of the hotel industry, were caught up in financial catastrophe and charged with major crimes.
His grandfather had a stroke and died, his uncle committed suicide and his dad was convicted of embezzlement. He was later totally exonerated and became a hotel manager.
John Paul went to the U. of Chicago, then enrolled in the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor. He came back to Northwestern Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review and attained the highest grades ever in the school’s history.
He had a distinguished career practicing in Chicago and was named to the 7th Circuit. Gerald Ford appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1975, an act which Ford considered his greatest legacy.
Fellow Justices have spoken with love of his collegiality, his common sense and his humility. The cases he participated in are the giants of the last decades, from Bush v. Gore, to Citizens United to Heller. On many issues, he “learned on the job” and altered his thinking, becoming leader of the liberal wing of the Court.
Throughout his long tenure, he was gentle and kind and outgoing. For newcomers to the law, I recommend Linda Greenhouse’s loving tribute to this great American in the New York Times, July 16, 2019.
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