I was lucky enough to spend the weekend in lovely Williamsburg, Virginia, home to this year’s VTLA annual convention. The highlights of the convention included (1) Justice Mims’s interview of Anne Marie Slaughter, (2) Anne Marie Slaughter’s brother‘s interview of Chief Justice Lemons, and (3) Kenneth Polite‘s talk on the power of the legal profession. All were full of moments poignant and profound.
Are we going to share any of them?
You know that we are not.
Let’s consider instead an anecdote that the Chief Justice shared. In the course of explaining that the Court used videoconferencing to connect justices who are dispersed across the state, he noted that he once had to deal with a justice who refused to use email. The Chief reported that he won that battle. Being a gracious sort, when he received the other justice’s first email, he called to congratulate him.
The justice was taken aback: “Oh my God–it got there that fast?”
Indeed it did, the Chief assured him.
“You must have one of these things on your end?”
“Yes.”
“Does yours have a cupholder?”
This one threw the Chief Justice.
The other justice continued: “It’s just like my Lexus. You push a button and it slides out. I had to use the big coffee cup, though, because the small one doesn’t fit.”
And then it dawned on the Chief. “XXXXXX, please tell me that you’re not using the DVD drive as a cupholder.”
“Oh, is that what that’s for?”
We are in good hands.