I went over to the Tenth Circuit this morning to hear oral argument in an appeal out of Wyoming that presents an issue almost identical to the core question in two of my pending habeas cases. I'd spent a couple of hours yesterday helping the petitioner's lawyer prepare for argument, so was looking forward to hearing how he incorporated our suggestions into his advocacy.
But alas, the infrared headset the court gave me to use didn't work at all, so I couldn't hear anything. Needless to say, this was rather frustrating, particularly since the court appeared sympathetic to the petitioner's position and I'd hoped to take the court's temperature on the issue. And I'm plenty busy this week, so as much as I love the atmosphere of an appellate courtroom, I had better things to do than sit for an hour unable to understand a word of the argument.
I only recently began using the infrared amplification system in court, but it has helped me increase my courtroom confidence dramatically. In the past, I would either strain to hear, ask to move myself closer to the judge's bench or the witness stand, or rely on CART (real-time captioning provided by a court reporter). Of these measures, only CART really helped. And while CART is a god-send for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in many, many settings, there is a slight delay between the spoken word and its appearance on the computer screen in front of me. In court, particularly in a court of appeals argument, this delay can be very frustrating, and back when I was in The Firm, I had a couple of judges get annoyed with my slightly tardy responses and objections.
When the new federal courthouse opened here last year, I was thrilled to discover that every courtroom is wired with infrared amplification capabilities, and headsets are kept at all times in each courtroom. I no longer have to make advance arrangements for my accommodations, and can simply walk in and grab a headset whenever I'm appearing or want to observe a proceeding. The Tenth Circuit used to bring over a portable system for my arguments, but this meant that I couldn't roam around to hear my colleagues argue in other courtrooms, or decide at the last minute to attend an argument that interested me. Finally, this past fall, the circuit court installed infrared in every courtroom, so that I now need only pop into the clerk's office to pick up a headset and can then attend any argument I like. It's a wonderful system.
Except when it doesn't work at all, like today! The clerk's office was very apologetic, and asked me to come over on Friday to try a different headset (and to hear my colleague Vicki argue). I'm scheduled to argue in March in the same courtroom in which I sat in silence today, and I need to know that the system will work for me then. The last thing I want to have to worry about when I'm standing in front of the judges is whether or not I'll be able to hear their questions!
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