Sister-to-Sister, Inc. Founder’s Corner
August 2022
Recently, my local newspaper featured an article written by a white male that questioned whether he should forfeit his law license.[1] Sharing the same profession as he, I paused to read it. Leaving open the question posed, the attorney acknowledged that ethical legal practitioners are essential. Having joined what's known as the “honorable” profession early in life, forfeiting my law licenses has never occurred to me. From age six, my goal has been to ‘do justice,’ and lawyering is the only direct path. Never seeking wealth, prestige, and influence, my desire centered on using law, coupled with executive leadership, to evoke change that benefits society.
America now has its first Black female U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice – the Honorable Ketanji Brown-Jackson. Little fanfare has been made regarding this historical moment because, as we know, so much “bad” preceded it. As a child determined to use law as a ‘just’ sword, current day events were unimaginable. What little girl, or adult for that matter, born in the 20th Century would consider that this nation's highest Court might someday serve as the pathway to annellation of ‘good’ bought by the blood, sweat, and tears of the Civil Rights Movement. This to benefit very few and actualize personally held beliefs. And who could have foreseen that six justices, led by Clarence Thomas, the Black Associate Justice who would follow the brilliant Justice Thurgood Marshall, Jr. onto the Court, would make the world question its integrity! Especially striking Thomas is a seventy-four-year-old African descendant of slavery born into extreme poverty in rural Georgia! How easily some forget from where they came and instead allow power and vengeance to overtake them.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent choice to ignore longstanding precedent that will drastically harm Black, brown, and poor women, and the inexcusable failure to act by lawyers surrounding a former president surface an unquenchable thirst for control that can easily erode ethical lawyering. Sworn to uphold the law, they acquiesced to power's quixotic allure – dictatorial and autocratic though it might be. It's startling that Cassidy Hutchinson, a young non-attorney, was the sole individual to speak out against evil lurking in this country's midst. Also, alarming is that lawyers bowing to wrongdoing aren’t being held accountable. They have, to date, escaped liability. States’ Bar licensing agencies must address such attorneys' conduct. Lesser known and connected ones have lost their law licenses for behavior far less egregious.
We continually hear that, "No one is above the law." We'll have to wait to see if this mantra holds true. As for myself, there remains much work ahead making retirement a non-option.
[1] This lawyer’s race is mentioned because Caucasian men represent the majority of U.S. attorneys.