Written by J. Gregory Shelley, Bose McKinney & Evans LLP

The last time I was in Washington D.C., I was 13 years old with my father attempting to impress upon me the importance of the monuments and institutions we were visiting.  Who could have imagined the next time I was in our nation’s capital, some 50 years later, I would be standing in the front row of the galley of the United States Supreme Court, with 8 of my Indiana colleagues, our right arms raised, being sworn in before all 9 Justices? A day no lawyer expects or could ever forget.  For me, it was made particularly special when my partner and friend, George T. Patton, Jr., approached the podium and moved the Court to admit each of the 9 Indiana attorneys. (We were relieved when Chief Justice Roberts approved his motion!)

Treated as honored guests from the moment we arrived and faced the imposing statue of Chief Justice John Marshall (remember to rub his toe for good luck!), we waited in an elegant conference room before portraits of John Jay and others to be addressed by the Clerk of the Court as to the day’s protocol and procedure. Once the entire galley of the Supreme Court was seated for the day’s oral argument, we were led in to our special seats – just feet from the Justices.

To be honest, I was initially disappointed to learn we would be hearing about the Indian Child Welfare Act, rather than a hot political topic, like gun rights, abortion or election issues. How short-sighted I was! It was an epic states’ rights versus federal interests battle that engaged the Court for over 3 hours, with every Justice grilling counsel. Justice Thomas demanding each counsel justify standing before proceeding; Justices Barrett and Kavanaugh tag-teaming counsel, Justice Sotomayor eliciting a wry smile from Chief Roberts when she scolded him to “allow counsel to finish his response”! Most memorable was Justice Gorsuch’s laser wit calmly dissecting and challenging counsel to focus his argument (“OK, so we’re back to that now, are we?”). One can only be impressed at the depth and breadth of required preparation for the honor of appearing in this forum. Every day there, is an important day in American history. And now we await the fate of the ICWA.

My sincere thanks to the ISBA for making this a possibility, and I encourage all attorneys to take advantage of this opportunity at some point in their career.