“I think what Lawrence did was provide an assurance that gay and lesbian couples could live openly in society as free people and start families and raise families and participate fully in their communities without fear. And two things flowed from that, I think. One is that has brought us to the point where we understand now in a way even that we did not fully understand in Lawrence, that gay and lesbian people and gay and lesbian couples are full and equal members of the community.” PeopleThinkingWayTwoCommunityCoupleGayEqualMembersRaisesTwo ThingsAssurance Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“Watch what happens on Twitter. One thing leads to another very quickly. And in an ironic sense, even though it's such a democratic form of communication, there's a funny way in which it leads to a hardening of a conventional wisdom much more quickly than might happen if you were reflecting on it a little more.” IfsWayLittlesMightHappensFormWatchesOne ThingCommunicationDemocraticIronicConventionalReflectingConventional Wisdom 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.
“There was this point about, you know, the basic point there as well - this statute treats some parts of the country different from others, and what's the justification for that? Well, you know, I had eight million things to say about that, but he put it in such a sharp, excruciating way that it was just very hard to handle it effectively.” KnowsWayWellsDifferentCountryHardMillionsTreatsEightHandleJustificationStatutesHard To Handle Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“I think what happened is that everybody's impressions got formed in those first few minutes. And I felt like, by the latter part of it, I kind of clawed my way back into the discussion. But everybody's impressions were set at the beginning. And wholly apart from me and whether I was good or bad, you know, there were a lot of hostile questions.” ThinkingKnowsWayFirstsKindFeltHappenedMinutesImpressionMy WayDiscussionLatterHostile Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“The fact that you have a policy of such consequence directly affecting millions of people and you have a legal question of great consequence about the scope of the president's authority to act in implementing the immigration laws in this way and you have a one-line decision from the court affirming by an equally-divided court, it's an inevitable consequence of where we are.” PeopleWayFactsLawPresidentLinesDecisionMillionsPolicyAuthorityConsequenceCourtImmigrationInevitableDividedScopeAffirmingOne LineImplementingImmigration Laws 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.
