[nfbmi-talk] FW: [stylist] Fw: For Blind High Court Clerk, the Sky's the Limit (fwd)

Fri May 30 19:16:28 CDT 2008

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces+f.wurtzel=comcast.net at nfbnet.org
[mailto:stylist-bounces+f.wurtzel=comcast.net at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Judith Bron
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 4:34 PM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: [stylist] Fw: For Blind High Court Clerk, the Sky's the Limit (fwd)

Thought all of you might want to see this.  A beautiful tribute to 
perseverance.  JB
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nancy Lynn" <freespirit52 at charter.net>
To: "Missouri Chat List" <chat at moblind.org>; "mcb List" 
<Missouri-l at MoBlind.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 3:52 PM
Subject: For Blind High Court Clerk, the Sky's the Limit (fwd)

>
> For Blind High Court Clerk, the Sky's the Limit
> Tony Mauro
> Legal Times
> May 29, 2008
>
>  Printer-friendly  Email this Article  Reprints & Permissions
>
> 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."
> 

_______________________________________________
stylist mailing list
stylist at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
stylist:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist/f.wurtzel%40comcast.net

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG. 
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.24.1/1469 - Release Date: 5/27/2008
1:25 PM