Trans Bar Association cohort sworn in at SCOTUS

I was honored to join a cohort of ten trans attorneys in a first-of-its-kind group swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Supreme Court this week, organized by the Trans Bar Association. The ten of us, lawyers from across the country, were jointly admitted to practice at SCOTUS. The collective swearing-in, administered by the Chief Justice, is a routine feature of Supreme Court sessions, and includes both individual attorneys and cohorts organized by bar associations. Still, it was the first time that the Court announced recognized such an organized cohort that was all-trans, and recognized a trans organization as its organizer. It’s a small symbolic step in saying to the Justices, their staff, and the lawyers who practice at and follow the Supreme Court that “We’re here, we’re trans, we’re part of the legal community and we’re not going away.”

It was an honor, if not because the Supreme Court has been hard at work burnishing its legitimacy as public institution. As majestic as the Court’s 1930s neoclassical palace is, it felt extremely complicated to be in a place that has done as more in recent years to undermine democracy and fundamental freedoms than to safeguard them, and where the rapid criminalization of abortion in much of our country was kicked off six months ago. While I can’t escape the fact that the Court, throughout its history, has undermined core principles of human rights - such as those enshrined in the Reconstruction Amendments - as often as it has upheld them, a visit to the Court is always a poignant reminder of those ideals and of the people who have fought for those ideas, including before the Court, throughout our history.

It was an honor to stand, alongside my trans attorney colleagues, where so many others have stood - not because we believe an institution like the Court will save us, but because we believe in dignity, equality, freedom, and justice for ourselves and all our communities and we will not stop standing up, whether on the streets or in the halls of power, for ourselves and each other.