Cincinnati, Ohio

June 4-6, 2007; The Queen City

Once a month for oral arguments I make the hour-and-a-half trip to Cincinnati, Ohio (aka The Queen City). I don't know where the nickname comes from but the city, in my opinion, is pretty dumpy and definitely not deserving of its nickname. Take, for instance, Mark Twain's quote: "When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always twenty years behind the times." Enough said.
(Pictured: Potter Stewart Courthouse in Cincinnati)

Usually the drive down is uneventful -- only cows and barns to see. But this time my trip took an extra forty-five minutes because a semi-truck caught on fire in the middle of the road. While I waited for the accident to be cleared, I parked the car on I-71 and took pictures of a nearby barn.


Oral arguments were ok, but not great. They were, however, funnier than usual because a couple of lawyers had some interesting comments. (See below) Caution: This may only be funny to lawyers.

• Oral Argument in a case is about to begin. The lawyer for the Appellee gets up and stands at the podium FIRST. After a few seconds and amusing glances from the bench, the lawyer says: "I forgot we won below" and returns to his seat to await his turn. (Hint: The Appellee always goes second, after the Appellant has had his time to speak.)
• After summarizing the case against the appellant, the judge asks the lawyer "Isn't it true that either way you lose this case?" The lawyer responds, "We lose a lot Judge." The Judge then tells the lawyer, "you've got a problem." The lawyer responds "yes we do!" (Hint: Generally not a good idea to admit to the judge that you lose.)

Admittedly, these instances of humor during oral argument aren't as funny when written down. But alas, I'm leaving it up as examples of bad lawyering.

On Monday night I went to dinner with my co-clerk David. We ate at Cafe Istanbul located on the Kentucky side of the Ohio river. The restaurant serves good middle eastern food but the highlight was the views you get of the Cincinnati skyline from the shopping mall where the restaurant is located.

(The Cincinnati skyline from Newport, Kentucky.)

On Tuesday night I went to dinner with 12 other clerks. We at the South Beach Grill on the Waterfront which is in Covington, Kentucky -- across the river from Cincinnati. The restaurant, owned by the Cincinnati restaurateur Jeff Ruby, was ok but not great. The service was slow -- we were "eating" for four hours!

(On the Left: Back of head, RC, Tom, David, Jay. On the right: Pete)

(On the right: Pete, Tara, Me, Maya, Madeleine.)

(The End of the Table from Left: Chris, Alison, Eric, Madeleine.)

Up Next: Valerie visits Chicago for the first time! The Doog is invited to her first pool party (doggie life jacket included)!