That's how court was called to session yesterday in Courtroom 3 of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. When the judges were ready they pounded twice on the door and then the court clerk immediately banged the gavel. "All rise!"
The three judges silently entered and took their seats. Then the one in the middle swooped his arms out, and lowered them, wordlessly telling the assembled crowd to be seated.
The courtroom was packed more than a half hour before the 1:30 session began, and many people were turned away, told to watch the proceedings on closed circuit tv in Courtroom 1 and the cafeteria. In fact, it was a bit of a problem finding seats for all the lawyers who were representing parties in the afternoon's cases.
It was in the James R. Browning Courthouse in San Francisco. A big old solid granite building, the interior was ornately decorated in the way they used to decorate buildings decades ago. The hallways were broad and gilded, and inside the courtroom ornately carved plaster reliefs and tile mosaics covered the walls. The ceiling had three stained glass skylights, and even the tiny tiles on the floor were decorative. It was a room whose attention to decorative detail was commensurate with the importance of what took place within it.
If it is ever true, as many believe, that lawyers are power-hungry and arrogant, appellate hearings are the great equalizers. Lawyers who've practiced for decades can be reduced to quivering creatures humbled before the bar. Two cases were heard yesterday, a habeas matter from Nevada, and an appeal of class certification in an employment discrimination case. The first was disposed of quickly, with each attorney taking no more than the usual allotment of 15 minutes to make their case. Both attorneys did well but were clearly nervous. The first one clutched the sides of the wide lecturn in a way that hardly looked comfortable, but probably kept his arms from flailing. The second one spoke too softly at first and had to be asked by one of the judges to speak up. But it was clear that they were not seasoned appellate litigators, and the court did not expect them to be. They were simply advocates whose clients' interests happened to have reached that stage of airing, and so they went where the case called them.
The discrimination case was different. It was a big, well-known case and the advocates had been chosen for this moment. The judges weren't vicious, but they laid into the lawyers for that case more than they had the previous. Yet the lawyers generally withstood the onslaught well.
And then it was over. After the last attorney concluded, the judge announced that court was in recess until 9:30 am tomorrow morning. And with that we all stood and they left the room, and then so did we.