So this is a lovely little something –

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. bequeathed a portion of his estate to the United States.

Congress then used that gift to do two important things . . . The first is it created a sweet garden on the grounds of the Supreme Court . . . and even passed a law about it!

(What’s not to love about 40 U.S.C. Section 6114?)

On this day – May 3rd – in 1911, Florence "Flossie" Cooper was born.

And boy was she marvelous. She was full of curiosity and wisdom, having spent many years as an English teacher.

And for 13 years, she and I were part of a two-person book club . . .

(mini 👵🧵) It began when I went away to college. Flossie was interested in what I was reading and I was interested in her views of what I was reading!

So we made a plan.

She bought the 📚 for the English course I was taking and every Sunday we'd discuss the lectures from that week . . .

Did you know that law schools didn't used to award the J.D. (Juris Doctor) but instead a degree called the LL.B.?

That's short for "Legum Baccalaureus," which is the fancy Latin designation for Bachelor of Laws.

And I promise, its history is delightful . . .

(⚖️🎓🧵) But first, you may be wondering – why would "Legum Baccalaureus" be shortened to LL.B. and not L.B.?

– I love this –

This is the reduplicative form of the plural at work, where we form the plural by doubling the initial letter – it's why the abbreviation for Justices is "JJ."

Now this is one to inspire us . . .

Here stands Ivy Williams – the very first woman to be called to the Bar of England and Wales (a feat that occurred 100 years ago).

And here's how it happened and what she did next in law . . .

(a petite ⚖️🧵) The daughter of a solicitor, Ivy studied jurisprudence at Oxford, completing her exams for a BA in 1900 and a BCL in 1902. 🎓

But because she was a woman, she could not practice law.

Thankfully that changed with the passage of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 . . .

8pm. Aug. 22, 1896.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. has just visited the estate of Doneraile Court in Ireland.

There he encountered Emily Ursula Clare Saint Leger – also known as Lady Castletown.

He is completely besotted.

Holmes takes pen to paper – "My dear lady . . ."

(❤️‍🔥⚖️🧵) But wait – we are getting ahead of ourselves. First, we must set the scene . . .

This country pile is Doneraile Court – the home of Baron Castletown & his wife, Lady Castletown. 🏰

Theirs was not exactly a love match. (They each had their own paramours, if you must know.)

50 years ago, the Supreme Court recognized the right of all people – married and single alike – to purchase and use contraception.

The case in which they did so? Eisenstadt v. Baird.

And how did that case come about? It began with this electric moment right here . . .

(⚖️🧵) But before we get there, we're going to need a little history . . .

So back in the day (in 1873 to be precise), Congress passed the Comstock Act (known for its champion, Anthony Comstock ⬇️) outlawing the distribution of “obscene” materials, including contraception . . . yeah.

Now *this* is a courthouse . . . 🏛️

If you are not already acquainted, I would be delighted to introduce you to the Old Courthouse in St. Louis.

I know it's impolite to reveal another's age – forgive me – but construction of this Greek Revival building began in 1839 . . . It then gained its current dome in 1862 – in an Italian Renaissance style.

It may look familiar to you . . . a similarly-styled dome was constructed at the same time for the United States Capitol, with both modeled after, among others, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome . . .

So we know that Griswold v. CT was the landmark case that established the constitutional right to contraception for married couples.

And we know who CT is. But who was Griswold?

Well, that would be Estelle Griswold – and you're going to love her, I just know it . . .

(⚖️🧵⏰) Before we meet "Stelle," a little history . . .

In 1879, Connecticut enacted a law that prohibited the use of "any drug, medicine, article, or instrument" for "the purpose of preventing conception."

Seriously.

And in the decades that followed, it remained on the books . . . 📚

Here is someone we can fall for together . . . ❤️

Her name is Mabel Willebrandt and in 1921 she managed to become an Assistant Attorney General – the highest ranking woman in the federal government!

How did she do it and what did she do next?

I'd say it's time for a ⚖️🧵 . . . Let's get down to brass tacks . . .

Mabel was born into poverty in 1889. Home was said to be a 9 x 12-foot tent on the Kansas plains.

Her childhood taught her determination. At 13, she was expelled from school for being too "outspoken."

So Mabel became a teacher, herself. 👩‍🏫

This gentleman right here is Alton Toussaint Lemon, for whom the famed "Lemon Test" was named.

With your indulgence, I offer a brief ⚖️🧵 on him, and the monumentally important Establishment Clause case that he was part of over fifty years ago . . . Alton was born in 1928 & graduated from @Morehouse in 1950. 🎓 (While there, he overlapped, and made friends, with MLK.)

After earning a master's in social work @Penn, Alton became active in the @NAACP & @ACLU.

It was at an @ACLU meeting that Alton criticized a new PA law ...

Here is an end-of-Term story that I love so well (and hope you will too).

Nearly 50 years ago, (now Judge) Marsha Berzon was finishing up her year clerking for the great Justice Brennan (the 1st woman to do so).

She brought her 3-year-old 👦 on her last day to say goodbye . . . (You might recall that there was initially a question about how the clerkship would go as Berzon needed to pick her son up from daycare at 5:30 . . .

A question that was answered positively as that year the Justice picked his granddaughter up from daycare at the same time!)

Let’s chat about the "first woman lawyer in America" – aka, the first woman admitted to the practice of law.

That would be this marvelous lady right here – Arabella Mansfield, who was admitted to the Iowa Bar in 1869.

How'd she do it? Well, let's follow the ⚖️🧵 to find out... Arabella was born in Iowa *on this day* in 1846. 🎂

Like many of our heroines, she experienced hardship early on – her father died when she was only 6.

Arabella's mother encouraged her to focus on school and our gal graduated first in her class from @IowaWesleyan in 1866. 🎓

You may recall the extraordinary Sarah Hughes . . .

She was one of the first women to serve as a federal judge (and the only woman to swear in a President).

What you may not know is that in 1970, she was part of the Three-Judge District Court that heard Roe v. Wade . . . (⚖️🧵) Roe, as you know, began as 2 separate cases:

1. John & Mary Doe (a married couple) v. Henry Wade (the District Attorney of Dallas County); and

2. Jane Roe (a single woman) v. Wade.

Both challenged a set of Texas laws that banned abortion except to save the mother's life.

In honor of Antonin Scalia's birthday tomorrow, I have to retell my first - and favorite - ⚖️🧵.

It starts a little something like this . . .

"Okay, I think it's time I told you about the night I tried to buy Justice Scalia a drink." Back in the summer of 2006 🏖️, my friends and I were applying to clerkships.

(I'm looking at you, @joshchafetz, @WilliamBaude & @StephenESachs.)

It felt pretty stressful at the time, mailing out scores of applications all at once (in the good old days of the OG plan). ✉️✉️✉️

My heart is wide open for this story tonight . . .

It’s about how Justice William Brennan, the liberal lion 🦁, was convinced to hire his first woman law clerk and who that clerk was.

(Hint: She’s a judge now herself.)

Our ⚖️ 🧵 starts now . . . Our story begins in 1974.

Despite being one of the most famed liberals on the 🏛️, Justice Brennan had yet to hire a woman law clerk. And this was no accident.

"While I am for equal rights for women, I think my prejudices are still for the male" he wrote to a law school dean.

With the Super Bowl in sight 🏈, we would be remiss not to talk about the one Justice who was also a professional football player . . . that would be Justice Byron “Whizzer” White.

(He was also the first SCOTUS clerk to later become a Justice himself!)

His ⚖️🧵 starts now . . . Byron Raymond White was born in Colorado in June 1917. Neither one of his parents had finished high school.

Byron later said of growing up, "Everybody worked for a living. Everybody."

His first job had him working in sugar beet fields for $1.50 a day. He was 6 years old.

Now seems like a fitting time to tell our favorite Justice Breyer stories - with your indulgence, I will offer mine.

It involves a magical dinner party, a failed attempt at humor, and ultimately Justice Breyer spontaneously reciting Lincoln.

A personal ⚖️🧵 starts now . . . In 2010, Justice Breyer visited @DukeLaw & the Dean held a dinner party in his honor.

In addition to the Justice, there were several legends in attendance, including Duke President Dick Brodhead & former Solicitor General Walter Dellinger.

And for reasons I cannot fathom, me.

For a brief moment in 1870, women served on juries in the United States. Who was the first woman in history to be called?

An extraordinary pioneer named Eliza Stewart Boyd.

And this is her extraordinary story . . .

(⚖️🧵) Eliza Stewart was born in 1833 in Pennsylvania, the oldest of 8 children.

Her mother died soon after the last Stewart child was born & Eliza was left to raise them all.

But she kept up with her studies & graduated from Washington Female Seminary in '61, class valedictorian. 🎓

Oh do I have a story just for you tonight . . .

It was not so long ago when women were not permitted to sit on juries (among other reasons, we were considered too "sentimental!").

This is the story of how that first changed and the people who first changed it.

(⚖️🧵. . . ) Our first scene is set in 1869.

John Campbell, Governor of the Wyoming Territory 🦬, is trying to decide whether to sign a bill that would grant women the right to vote and hold office. If signed, it would be the first such law in the country. 📜🖋️

He is hesitating.

50 years ago this month, Columbia Law School hired its 1st woman tenured law professor in its history.

The professor?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The news was so big that the @nytimes even covered it a few days later, under the headline: "Columbia Law Snares a Prize in the Quest for Women Professors."

The article went on to call Ruth's hire a "major coup."

An extra special story for the end of the year . . .

This is the tale of someone who wrote the original complaint in Brown v. Board and later became the first black woman appointed to the Federal Bench.

That's the extraordinary Constance Baker Motley and this is her ⚖️🧵 . . . Constance Baker was born in 1921 in New Haven to parents who had emigrated from Nevis.

She was the 9th of 12 children.

Her father, McCullough Alva Baker, was a chef at @Yale, including at Skull & Bones. ☠️ Her mother, Rachel Huggins, would go on to found the New Haven NAACP.