“Don’t Come—Your Sister’s Boyfriend Is a Judge,” My Dad Texted—Monday Morning, He Learned Who Really Was

The text from my father arrived on a Tuesday afternoon while I was in the middle of oral arguments before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. My phone, silenced in my briefcase, held the message for another forty minutes while I stood at the lectern defending the constitutional rights of a man the prosecution had called “unredeemable.”

When I finally continue reading …