Hoagland Longo's New Brunswick Outreach Tutoring Program Visits U.S. Supreme Court

05.07.2005

On April 27th, The HLMDD New Brunswick Outreach Tutoring Program Students traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with Justice Clarence Thomas and watch the oral argument of a pending case.

On April 27th, The HLMDD New Brunswick Outreach Tutoring Program Students traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with Justice Clarence Thomas and watch the oral argument of a pending case.

The Tutoring program is in its sixth year. Every Wednesday afternoon between 5 and 6PM, fifteen 6th, 7th, and 8th graders from the Lord Stirling Community School in New Brunswick join us for pizza, a lively discussion about current events and help with their homework. The program, conceived and implemented by Partner Joan Weisblatt, was initiated as a way to give back to the New Brunswick community, which has been the firms home for over 50 years. Our attorneys and staff members volunteer their time to help these pre-teens and young teenagers, many of whom are underprivileged, with their studies and expose them to professional life.

The trip to Washington D.C. was an adventure from the beginning. We left the school at 4:15 AM with 17 students, two teachers, a teacher's aide and five tutors. We arrived at the Supreme Court at 9 AM and were seated in the Courtroom. At 10 AM sharp, the buzzer went off,the gavel went down, everyone rose and the Justices took their places while the Marshal called the Court to order.

You truly are missing something if you have never been to a US Supreme Court oral argument. The Justices are in a seniority pattern with the Chief Justice in the middle, the second most senior, Stevens, to his left as you face the bench and the third most senior, O'Connor, on the opposite side. The further a Justice is from the Chief, the less seniority. The corresponding justice on the left as you face the bench is always more senior than the corresponding one on the right. Therefore, Justice Breyer was the least senior as he was seated all the way to our right.

The oral argument was fascinating.The case was Arthur Anderson v. USA which involved the appeal from the 5th Circuit's affirmation of the jury verdict in Texas finding Arthur Anderson guilty of witness tampering immediately prior to the formal Enron investigation. The presentations were stellar and the questions were daunting. The sheer intelligence of the participants was palpable; the Justices asked very difficult and insightful questions and the attorneys answered swiftly and thoughtfully. The oral argument ended with a bang of the gavel and Court was adjourned at 11:10.(The oral argument is exactly an hour, but the first 10 minutes were taken up with the reading of an opinion and admissions to the Supreme Court bar.)

The most gratifying and extraordinary part of the day, though, was yet to come. We expected a half hour audience with Justice Thomas and were escorted to the lawyer's lounge- a small, oblong room with chairs lined up in rows. Just before his arrival we were briefed on decorum. We were told to rise when he entered, not to ask questions if and until he entertained them and not to take pictures unless he brought it up and consented.

He arrived at 11:40 and we rose. Justice Thomas did not spend a half hour with us; he stayed for more than an hour, skipping his lunch with the other Justices.He said he would stay until all questions were asked and answered. He first explained the way that the Supreme Court functions and then discussed his personal and professional path. His narrative was no less than inspirational. The children asked their questions and he showed a tremendous affection for them when he answered. He is so sweet and down to earth, yet so intelligent and well spoken. There are a few cute stories, like when one of the kids asked him how he was going to decide the case we had just heard argued. He laughed heartily and asked, "Do you think I'm going to tell you that? That's a good one!" He invited the children to go to the Supreme Court website in June and see the opinion, then write him a personal letter and ask him for a copy and he would send a signed copy of the opinion to whomever asked.

He talked about his hardscrabble youth in Savannah, raised by grandparents on the farm, speaking the native dialect, Kweechee. He was encouraged to succeed by several relatives and taught himself Algebra and typing. He was dogged in his effort to speak proper English. Little did he know at the time that he was tooling up for his personal and professional future. Justice Thomas said that he had heard over and over again, "The Man will keep you down." He told the children that it just wasn't true. He told them to listen to those who encourage them to succeed and take advantage of those that offer opportunities like the one that our firm offers them. The meeting was intimate, affecting and left the students filled with hope.

We then ate in the Supreme Court cafeteria and went on our sightseeing trip. We visited the Capitol, the White House and then spent a lot of time at the Lincoln Memorial, Reflecting Pool and Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. We also got to climb on the huge bronze sculpture of Albert Einstein at the Foundation of Sciences.

Our bus broke down just as we were to leave and we spent an additional 3 1/2 hours sitting on the steps of the park near the reflecting pool in front of the Washington Monument. It actually was wonderful. The weather was so gorgeous. Some of us toured the Korean Memorial and the WWII memorial while we waited for the bus to get fixed.

We departed at 7, stopped for dinner on the way back and pulled up to the school at 11 PM. It had been a 21 hour day and one that none of us will ever forget.