The Four Ms. Bradwells Read Online Free PDF Page A

with what the Court did here,” Ginger said that first morning, her eyes shining like new money even as Professor Jarrett again eyed the seating chart.
    “ Ms . Porter?” he said, looking to a pale gal in a middle row. “You look like a sympathetic sort to me. What do you think of these poor clients not being able to make their lady lawyer do the job she told them she’d do?”
    Mia tucked weedy-blond hair behind the tiniest little ears I ever have seen on a grown-up, before or since. “It does seem—”
    Professor Jarrett spread his arms palms up, Jesus Christ the Lord allowing this poor sinner to rise up and be healed. “If you complete this class having learned nothing else, you will have learned that you can speak while standing,” he said. “It’ll serve you well.”
    Mia stood, her knees so shaky that the fella sitting next to her, a big fella in a Dartmouth T-shirt, whose open casebook did not have a mark on the page, whispered something to her.
    “It does seem it could be a problem if a client can’t make Mrs. Bradwell do the job they paid her to do,” Mia conceded.
    “You might end up in prison for want of a lawyer when you’ve already emptied your pocketbook to pay the big retainer,” Professor Jarrett said, and the class again laughed. “So you’d agree with the Court here?”
    Mia looked like she wanted to say Heavens no but couldn’t come up with a single reason why not.
    He turned to Ginger. “Ms. Decisis-Bradwell?”
    “But the Court says the ruling applies to unmarried women, too,” Ginger said.
    “What about that, Ms. Porter?” Jarrett asked Mia. “What if our friend here is Ms. Miss Bradwell? Then shall we let her sit for the bar exam?”
    Dartmouth rested a hand lightly against Mia’s blue jeans, behind her knee. I felt a calm roll through me, too.
    “You can’t say what the Court would do from this, I guess,” Mia said. “The stuff about—The language about the destiny of woman to be wife and mother, that isn’t the whole Court speaking, it’s just one justice.”
    “ Just one justice?” Jarrett’s face lit in mock astonishment. “Do you know how qualified a man has to be to be appointed to the Court?”
    “Person,” Ginger said.
    “Pardon?” Professor Jarrett said.
    “Person,” Ginger repeated. “You said ‘man,’ but a woman can be a justice, too.”
    “All evidence to the contrary notwithstanding,” Jarrett said.
    “All evidence to the contrary notwithstanding,” Ginger agreed, “and despite the holding in Bradwell v. Illinois. ”
    “Do you know how qualified a person has to be to be appointed to the Supreme Court, Ms. Porter?” Professor Jarrett asked.
    “But one justice can’t make law by himself, can he?” Mia said. “He’d need to have a majority of the Court speaking with him. Or she, I mean. With her.”
    The set of Professor Jarrett’s mouth didn’t alter one little bit, but there was a new smile in his eyes that we would come to call his bravo gaze.
    “Well, that’s a pretty good guess. I’d bet on that one if I were you, Ms. Porter, if you’re a betting kind of gal.”
    As the professor eyed the room again, Dartmouth scrawled Good Job! in elephant letters on Mia’s notepad.
    “So tell me this, Ms. Cicero-Bradwell: Why isn’t the right to practice law an inalienable right?” Professor Jarrett asked, giving me the same Jesus Christ the Lord bit.
    I rose slowly, trying to cobble together an answer; it would have been easy if I wasn’t having to stand. “I don’t believe the Court … The Court as a whole only says … They’re just saying the right to practice law isn’t protected by the privileges and immunities clause. The Slaughter-House Cases are stare decisis on the issue.”
    I too was graced with the bravo gaze.
    “I hope you gentlemen are taking careful notes,” Professor Jarrett said to the class. “These ladies’ll be a tough act to follow.”
    He turned to Ginger. “So, Ms. Decisis-Bradwell, what if our