“I did think Justice [Antony] Kennedy's opinion on Lawrence was critical to that because it really, what Lawrence in one sense was, of course, about consensual sex being something that the government can't regulate. But really in a more fundamental sense, what it was saying, "Look. Gay people are normal people, and they get to live normal lives. They're not criminals by virtue of the fact of being gay."” PeopleThinkingLooksFactsGovernmentCoursesSexJusticeOpinionVirtueGayNormalFundamentalsCriticalCriminalsGay PeopleNormal LifeBeing GayAntony Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“Very quickly the lawyers in the Justice Department pulled together a set of recommendations about how we ought to defend the law as a constitutional matter. And it was the lawyers in the Justice Department who thought that it was important to include the tax power argument as part of it.” ImportantMatterTogetherLawJusticeOughtTaxesArgumentLawyerDepartmentRecommendations Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“Justice [Sonia]Sotomayor said, "Let's talk - you want to talk about the tax power."And I got like a 10-minute run on the tax power. And, boy, was I glad I did because I was able to get across this idea that, yes, this is a narrower ground on which you can affirm it. And I think everybody agrees. I think even the dissenting justices ultimately in the case agreed that, if Congress had expressly called it a tax, it would be indisputably constitutional.” IfsThinkingWantSaidIdeasWould BeRunningAbleJusticeBoysCasesMinutesTaxesAgreeCongressGlad Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“Sometimes one of the justices, because they're, you know, they're brilliant lawyers themselves, can put the question in a particular way so that, even if you've prepared to talk about the topic, the question is put in such an excruciatingly difficult way that there's just no good way to handle it.” IfsKnowsWaySometimesDifficultJusticeParticularPreparedBrilliantLawyerHandleTopicsGood Way Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“I'm arguing for progressive positions on behalf of a progressive administration in front of a court who, before Justice [Antonin] Scalia's death, had a conservative majority that was quite conservative, frankly.” JusticeFrontsPositionMajorityCourtConservativeArguingAdministrationProgressiveBehalf Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“One thing I've experienced and I feel really grateful for now that I'm on my way out is that I felt that the justices gave that back to me. I really did. You know, of course, you can have some sharp exchanges. That's the nature of the thing, and that's fine. But really in the main I felt like the tone from them was, "Yeah. We may not agree with you, but we're going to have a discussion about this." And it did.” KnowsWayFeelsMayCoursesFeltJusticeOne ThingFineAgreeYeahGratefulMy WayDiscussionToneDid You Know Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
