Several years ago an ad announcing the importance of lawyers stated: “When lawyers talk people listen.” Apparently, no one has been saying a thing about the outrageously submissive position we have taken when it comes to addressing our own status, as second-class citizens when it comes to entering the federal courts in our metropolitan area. Why is it that attorneys, who now carry state and federally issued bar identity cards so that they may carry their phones into a courthouse, must wait on line to pass through metal detectors, emptying pockets, removing outer garments, suit jackets, shoes and belt? Are we not to be trusted?
I often observe U.S Attorneys, attended by interns, who are summering students; agents, cafeteria and maintenance staff, walk into the building without the indignity of a virtual body search. In jurisdictions where the public and attorneys are on the same line, this lack of trust in the defense bar is observed by jurors. If we stand in “Pari Delicto” before the bar; why are we unequal entering the courthouse? Cafeteria staff, I have also learned do not go through the metal detectors.
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