[blindlaw] Blind Supreme Court Law Clerk

[AZNOR99 at aol.com]

Interesting article.
 
_http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202421747827_ 
(http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202421747827) 
 
For Blind High Court Clerk, The Sky's The Limit
_Legal Times_ (http://www.legaltimes.com/) 
May  29, 2008
Isaac Lidsky of Jones Day is the First Blind Person  to Become a Law Clerk at 
the Supreme Court.
By Diego M. Rodzinschi / Legal Times
 
 
 
Isaac Lidsky of Jones Day is the first blind person to  become a law clerk at 
the Supreme Court.
Diego M.  Radzinschi/Legal Times

Isaac Lidsky has been an associate at Jones Day's Washington, D.C. office for 
 only three months, so he was unsure where to find the Erwin Griswold 
conference  room, where our interview would take place. He asked for my elbow to 
guide him.  
I had never been to the conference room either. But I can see. Isaac Lidsky  
is blind. As I followed signs, and Jones Day workers showed me the way with  
Lidsky at my side, the magnitude of what lies ahead for Lidsky became real. 
Starting July 14, Lidsky will be making his way through the marble halls of  
the Supreme Court as a law clerk -- the same maze-like hallways that famously  
confound new, sighted justices for the first months of their tenure. 
A small number of clerks with disabilities have served the Court, but, before 
 Lidsky, no blind person has taken on the reading-intensive job that entails  
digesting hundreds of petitions and writing memos and rough drafts of  
decisions. 
Lidsky himself is awed by the prospect, though not because he is blind.  
Clerking at the Supreme Court has been a dream of his ever since his father, a  
Cuban-born lawyer in Florida, began telling him as a child about "this thing  
called the Supreme Court." 
That was when Lidsky was a child actor, starring in dozens of commercials in  
Miami. When he wasn’t acting or in school, he’d follow his father around in  
court. "It was a blast seeing my father argue before a judge," he recalls. 
About  15 years ago, "I learned about this idea of clerking" from his father, he 
says,  and it stuck. 
It was also around then that Lidsky went to an eye doctor. Two of his three  
sisters had already been diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative 
eye  disease that leads to blindness, and his parents wanted to find out if he 
had  it, too. He did, but at first, he says, "I didn't really realize I saw 
any worse  than anyone else." 
His acting career soon reached its peak when he played Weasel on the NBC show 
 "Saved By the Bell: The New Class" in 1993. But Lidsky says that with law 
school  as his single-minded goal, he never intended to stay with acting. 
First came Harvard College, then Harvard Law School, Harvard Law Review, an  
appellate clerkship and then the Justice Department's Civil Division. The  
29-year-old applied for a high court clerkship four times before finally getting  
a call in late December from retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor -- just as  
he was about to take a job with Jones Day, a venerable firm chock full of 
former  clerks. 
Before Lidsky begins at the Supreme Court, he has something to take care of  
that he is equally passionate about: a June 18 gala to introduce the 
foundation  he created, called Hope for Vision, to the Washington, D.C., community. Its 
 mission is to build awareness of blinding eye diseases and generate research 
 into possible cures -- research that is beginning to produce major  
breakthroughs. The event, hosted by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who heads the  
Congressional Vision Caucus, will take place on Jones Day's Capitol-view  rooftop. 
Jones Day, Sidley Austin and Burson-Marsteller are among the  sponsors. 
"Come July, I will obviously have to take a less active role in Hope for  
Vision," Lidsky says. "That's why I have a sense of urgency." 
Lidsky masks that urgency with a confident calm. His boyish face and wide,  
unseeing eyes betray no nervousness about his next year. Lidsky has blown past  
every challenge before him. Putting on a major gala and clerking at the 
Supreme  Court should be no different. 
"Isaac will excel in any job he does," says former Attorney General Peter  
Keisler, who hired Lidsky in the Civil Division. "Appellate work is what he  
enjoys doing, and he does it extremely well." Keisler, himself a former clerk,  
is now a partner at Sidley Austin. 
Lidsky has argued more than a dozen cases before several courts, including  
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where he once appeared before  
Judge David Tatel, whose blindness was caused by the same disease that befell  
Lidsky. The two have compared notes, and Tatel gave Lidsky valuable tips on 
ways  to handle his work. "Judge Tatel is beyond inspirational to me," Lidsky  
says. 
Thomas Ambro, the judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who hired  
Lidsky as his clerk in 2004, says that when he recommended Lidsky to the  
justices, he and others "decided to be upfront about his vision impairment." He  
assured the justices Lidsky can carry a full workload, with brilliance and  
creativity. "Give him a shot and he will do well by you." Adds Ambro, "Here's  
someone who wants to make a difference on his own terms, and on merit. He's not  
asking for any favors." 
Ambro is delighted Lidsky will finally be clerking at the Court. "He's always 
 dreamt of going there." 
O'Connor was unavailable for comment, but she is known as a demanding boss  
who will keep Lidsky busy. Some snarky comments have appeared on the Above the  
Law gossip blog suggesting that because he will be working for a retired  
justice, Lidsky's clerkship doesn’t count as much as those for sitting  justices. 
But by long tradition, clerks for retired justices are detailed to another  
justice to perform the same case-screening and opinion-drafting duties as the  
other clerks -- and then some. Since O'Connor also sits by designation on two 
or  three circuit court cases per term, he’ll work on those cases as well as 
aiding  with her busy schedule of speeches and conferences. 
"Isaac will have as robust an experience as any other clerk," Keisler  
predicts. 
One case Lidsky won't get involved in, by the way, is any appeal that might  
arise from American Council of the Blind v. Paulson, the May 20 D.C.  Circuit 
ruling that U.S. currency disadvantages the blind because all  denominations 
are the same size. Lidsky was involved in the case at the Justice  Department, 
so will be recused, he says. As for himself, Lidsky adds,  "Heretofore I have 
depended on the kindness of strangers" to tell him the  denomination of his 
bills. 
How will Lidsky manage his yearlong, often seven-day-a-week clerkship? He is  
reluctant to offer details about the O'Connor chambers, but says he has kept  
abreast of the technology available for blind people ever since Harvard Law,  
when his ailment "crossed the line from nuisance to disability." Harvard Law  
paid for his cane training and ensured his equal access to its offerings. 
"They  couldn’t have been more embracing." 
Optical character recognition software now enables Lidsky to "read" scanned  
and digitized pages by listening as the computer recites the printed words to  
him. He can speed up the reading, to the point where "I can listen to things 
as  fast as people can read them. I can do the functional equivalent of 
skimming."  He has become proficient enough that he can even listen to two documents 
at  once. But he says, "Reading handwriting is very challenging." 
After his year at the Court, Lidsky heads to London with his wife, Dorothy,  
who postponed getting a master's degree in art administration there because of 
 his sudden clerkship. Jones Day had already promised Lidsky he could move to 
its  London office before the clerkship arose. 
"We hope he’ll rejoin us," partner Michael Carvin says. Adds partner Glen  
Nager, "Isaac reminds us all what hard work, determination, and talent  mean." 
Lidsky takes a more modest view of himself. "I'm not out to set records, and  
I've been very fortunate in my life. For many others with vision impairment,  
it’s a different story." 
And that is why he is committed to his Hope for Vision foundation and the  
June 18 event instead of taking a pre-clerkship break. "It's critically  
important for people with vision loss to see that they can accomplish what they  want 
to achieve. It's not a limitation. It's not a death  sentence."



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