Sucks Bein’ Fay Clayton

As John just reported, today we finally heard back from the Supreme Court on our appeal in NOW v. Scheidler. Throughout this entire nineteen-year ordeal, NOW attorney Fay Clayton has been a central figure. I bet she’s having a pretty bad day today. Clayton had already been knocked down a peg when the case returned to the Supreme Court for oral arguments last November. Clayton had been caught in a lie by Justice Antonin Scalia when she presented oral arguments the last time the case was before the Supreme Court, back in 2002. Apparently she was considered a liability for NOW during last year’s oral arguments, which were presented instead by Duke Law professor Erwin Chemerinsky. Clayton has to be given credit for tenacity. In fact, during the 1998 trail, Joe Scheidler told her point blank, on the witness stand, “I admire your zeal, Fay.” It is quite an accomplishment to squeeze nineteen years of litigation, three trips to the Supreme Court and some of the most tortured legal opinions in U.S. history out of a case composed of vapor. What a shame that she has not dedicated her formidable talents to a worthy cause. One day she will realize how she has squandered her gifts—let us pray that day does not come too late.