It was a cold and rainy morning in Washington, D.C., yesterday. Five years ago, Donald Trump said that was enough to deter him from visiting Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, to commemorate the fallen American soldiers-soldiers who died defending the nation whose Constitution he had sought to abrogate but now seeks to invoke. But yesterday, he showed up anyway. Appearing in court was more important to him, because this was about him.
The wood-paneled walls of the courtroom display large official portraits of many of the renowned judges who have served on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, known colloquially as the D.C. Circuit and long considered to be the second-most important appellate court in the land. The faces gazing down from the walls were mostly male, with a couple of exceptions. Near the front on the left side, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, wearing a trademark jabot, had one of the better views, directly overlooking the bench, counsel table, and podium. I envied her vantage point; from her perch, I could have seen the expressions of all the players, including the defendant. I found it hard not to wonder what she would have thought of these proceedings.
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