Two different parts to this post. Stay with us.
On April 15, 1865, at 7:22 a.m., (some reports 7:21 a.m. but we give him an extra moment of life) our greatest president died of wounds from an assassin. As part of his cabinet huddled around his bedside, Edward Stanton, the secretary of war, said "Now he belongs to the ages" as Lincoln took his last measured breath. (There is an alternate version of Staton saying "now he belongs to the angels" but we like ages better, as it is in fact where Lincoln belongs).
There is something uniquely American about Abraham Lincoln. Self-taught; from dirt poverty; a life of continued failed ventures; never rich- an everyman (and woman's) struggle to provide for a family; a wife suffering from depression; Lincoln's brilliance would not let him fail. Prior to the presidency, he was not from a powerful family like the Roosevelts or Kennedys. He was not a hero on the battlefield like Grant or Eisenhower or Teddy Roosevelt, or George HW Bush. But Lincoln's genius for the written and spoken word would not let him fail. In 1860 he engaged in a series of debates with Stephen Douglas, challenging the Democrat Douglas for his senate seat. Lincoln narrowly lost the election 54-46 as the State legislature voted for senators at that time. But Lincoln's performance, his words (he first spoke "A house divided cannot stand" in his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination for senate) and his uniqueness, propelled him to the forefront of the nation's conscience as the leader of the anti-slavery movement. In a uniquely American turn of events, his loss in the senate race propelled him to the presidency.
In the White House, he lost a child, won a war and saved the Nation. No president endured the tragedies Lincoln did. His leadership and wisdom endures, and he does in fact, belong to the ages. When the North captured a British ship supplying the South, and England threatened war unless their sailors were released, Lincoln quietly ordered them released, saying "One war at a time." We reflect on that decision often, when in the heat of a trial or defense, clients or prosecutors attempt to open a second front.
When the first reports of casualties at the battle of Antietam came in - 23,000 in a force of 100,000- the deadliest day in American History, Lincoln, stunned, muttered "What will the nation say?" And yet, he endured, singularly carrying a nation on his back unlike any leader before him and something never repeated until Churchill and now Ukranian President Zelensky. In an ending that can only be described as Biblical, having won the war, Lincoln, like Moses, was denied entry into the promised land of peace.
He is our greatest president, the greatest American, one of the great if not greatest figures from all of recorded time. Lincoln is the best example of the man meeting the moment, and he truly belongs to the ages.
NO PAPER IN JAIL
We cannot end this post without commenting on the endless chatter on certain listservs we are morally if not legally prevented from mentioning in public (See The Rumpole Cannot Talk About Us Act, Fla. Stat. et. seq).
Lawyers are now slowly realizing that they cannot bring paper into local jails. Something we posted about here A Problem With Paper, a month ago (March 17).
Lawyers cannot bring paper into jails because unscrupulous individuals are sending paper products like books and greeting cards laced with liquid drugs into jails.
OK- we get that. The jails need to be careful. BUT please explain why lawyers cannot bring laptops and iPads into jails? The electronics cannot be laced with anything. What is the absolute worst that can happen? A lawyer will show a client a news article posted on the Fox website? Really? The jail needs to stop inmates from reading on TMZ that Ben and JLo went for coffee at Starbucks yesterday and were seen holding hands and sipping matching lattes? "Warden we have a big problem! A lawyer showed an inmate a video of Chris Rock being slapped!" "OMG! Order a total lockdown. Condition RED!"
Think about it. Prosecutors send discovery digitally. Lawyers cannot bring the paper discovery into the jail and cannot show our clients the digital version. So we are left with using our imaginative description's of the discovery:
"Close your eyes, imagine a video of you, entering a warehouse, it's wired, there are cameras on the walls. You have a hundred thousand dollars in a small satchel. The seller pulls out a brick of white powder from a Publix bag. In the background Glenn Frey's Smuggler's Blues plays on a radio:
'Cause you always carry cash
There's lots of shady characters
Lots of dirty deals
In case somebody squeals
It's the lure of easy money
It's got a very strong appeal