Order in the Court

"Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise."
--Bob DylanWell, I can safely say that today I did something I've never done before: I went to court (and no, it wasn't because I was under arrest!). My cousin's friend is a DA in the office of a NY state senator, and she had to appear in court today, so she drove down last night and then we all went over to the courthouse at 8 am. She has had a crazy summer (there was some unorthodox behavior in the state senate, perhaps you heard about it?) and today's session in the appellate court was to decide whether Governor Patterson's appointment of a lieutenant-governor had any constitutional basis, and whether the lieutenant-governor can remain in power until the actual appeal, which is three weeks from now. An appellate court involves a panel of judges, in this case four (two Democrats and two Republicans), with the plaintiffs and defendants lawyers presenting their arguments while fielding questions from the judges.

My cousin and I are qualified American History nerds and we were enthralled. Really--there were law students there who looked super bored, but the two of us were hunched over in our seats and kept poking each other during good rebuttals. Both sides had valid points, but much as it pains me to say this, the Republican senators (plus Pedro Espada, for whatever reason) have the better argument. There is no constitutional basis for such an appointment by Patterson (governors and lieutenant-governors must be elected together), and the whole thing seems shifty to me, especially since Patterson's lawyers stressed that he had to make a drastic decision in these "times of financial crisis." I am concerned about his justification for breaking the law, for the same reasons that I disagree with the Patriot Act. Ben Franklin said it best--"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." And since the senate has been behaving like a bunch of petulant children, well, I'm not sure how much I feel like trusting any of them.

There was a lot of legal particularities that I missed, but some of it I got. The judges were by turns scary and funny, and the lawyers for the senators (who my insider wrote the briefs for) were two large and ridiculous men who treated us all to lunch afterwards (one bore an uncanny resemblance to a walrus and one to John Goodman.) As they sat tapping away at their blackberries, I realized that 1) I have never been on a business lunch before, 2) I don't particularly want a blackberry, ever, and 3) I can't even imagine being under that much stress. The gilt and gold and marble and power (not to mention the fact that so many major decisions seem to be made by portly, white men...) is a little nauseating but also pretty fascinating. It was a fun way to spend a Thursday.