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To
My Dear Students,
Supreme
Court Justice Stevens announced that he will soon
retire. One of his former law clerks reminisced
that one of Justice Stevens' trademarks is the
courteousness with which he treats the lawyers
who appear before the Supreme Court. When
he wants to elicit information or make a point
during oral argument, he typically interrupts
the lawyer with the gentle preface, "May
I ask you a question?"
During
William Rehnquist's tenure as Chief Justice, a
lawyer was arguing in the court for the first
time. When asked a question by Justice Anthony
Kennedy, the nervous lawyer started her response
with, "Well, Judge." Chief Justice
Rehnquist interrupted her. "That's
Justice Kennedy," he said.
Shaken, the lawyer continued. A few minutes
later, she responded to Justice David Souter by
saying, "Yes, Judge." Chief Justice
Rehnquist corrected her again: "That's
Justice Souter."
A
couple of minutes later, she called Chief Justice
Rehnquist himself a judge. The Chief Justice
leaned forward, his deep voice now at its sternest,
to say, "Counsel is admonished that this
court is composed of justices, not judges."
Before
the lawyer could say anything, Justice Stevens
interjected: "It's O.K., counsel.
The Constitution makes the same mistake."
In
pointing out that the Constitution itself refers
to Supreme Court justices as "judges,"
Stevens was illustrating a great Jewish mitzvah
called lo l'vayesh, "Do not embarrass
a person." The Jewish tradition is
exquisitely sensitive to sparing the feelings
of others, to not cause shame, embarrassment,
or humiliation. It teaches that we must
go to great lengths to avoid the sin of halbanat
panim, "whitening the face," causing
someone to blanch by public embarrassment.
The etiquette of speech is one of Judaism's foremost
concerns. As Justice Stevens (or Judge
Stevens according to the Constitution), sought
to spare that attorney embarrassment, so we should
be quite mindful to ensure that our words protect
the feelings of others.
Shabbat
Shalom,
Your
Rabbi
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