Summary of Vision by David S. Tatel ( Keynote reads )

By Keynote reads

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David Tatel, a public servant and legal thinker, has been blind for over 50 years. Despite serving on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, he championed equal justice and decided landmark cases. Tatel's journey has been inspiring, as he has come to accept his blindness as an essential part of his identity. His story of fighting for justice with and without eyesight is a testament to the power of embracing one's identity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Keynote reads
• Release date: Jul 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224487127

Keynote reads

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Book preview

A Braided Life

The author, a civil rights lawyer and federal judge, has been blind for over half his life due to retinitis pigmentosa (RP). He spent thirty years on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where he could neither read nor see the faces of lawyers. However, he could listen closely to legal briefs and arguments, absorbing written material through reading or digital audio devices.

In his eighties, the author has come to accept his blindness as an essential part of who he is. This memoir is about his life in the law, his journey into blindness, and his concerns about the state of the judiciary. A short story about a recent and dramatic case that Vixen helped him navigate is given.

On July 13, 2020, the author and his guide dog Vixen were fetching daily newspapers from their rural Virginia home. The novel coronavirus was running, so the D.C. Circuit operated remotely. Vixen guided the author to retrieve the Washington Post and the New York Times, while the headlines were about the Trump administration's response to the pandemic and whether the delayed baseball season would finally get underway.

The author received an email from court staff reporting that a district court judge had blocked the first of several executions scheduled by the Trump administration. The government had planned to execute convicted murderer Daniel Lewis Lee by lethal injection, but the district court temporarily halted the execution. The author knew nothing about Daniel Lewis Lee or his legal claims until that morning, and they had to act quickly.

The author opposes the death penalty and believes that capital punishment is often applied arbitrarily and discriminatorily. As a judge, the question was whether Lee's execution would violate the Constitution. Lee was convicted of robbing, torturing, and murdering a firearms dealer, his wife, and their eight-year-old daughter. The only legal issue in the case was how Lee would die, and the government planned to use a drug called pentobarbital. Lee argued that the drug would cause extreme pain and needless suffering and thus violate his Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

The district judge found Lee's allegations plausible, so the government ordered the government to hold off on the execution. The three-judge panel, including two other D.C. Circuit judges, would review the district court's ruling and decide whether Lee would live or die that day. The appellate process takes many months, and the government requested speed in reversing the order.

The author took a walk with his dog, Vixen, to clear his mind and appreciate the pleasures of walking a dog. He explains that Vixen was in the V litter, so she and her siblings were given names starting with V. Dogs bring people together, and the author treasures the independence and solitude Vixen provides.

The author recounts their experience in a case involving the execution of Lee Harvey Oswald. They were briefed by the government and Lee's lawyers, who raised a serious constitutional claim that required a thorough evaluation of medical and scientific evidence. The district court had reasonably determined it needed more time to weigh the evidence and evaluate the effects of pentobarbital. The author and his colleagues, Judges Thomas Griffith and Patricia Millett, agreed that there was nothing unlawful about the district court's order delaying Lee's execution.

The author and his law clerk began drafting an opinion, which was later released by the Supreme Court. The court voted 5-4 to reverse the decision, citing the necessity of urgency to resolve the question of capital punishment. The court acknowledged the evidentiary dispute but refused to give the district court the time it needed to assess the evidence and resolve Lee's legal claim.

The Supreme Court's opinion was astonishing, as it made sure to emphasize that Lee had murdered a child and that the question of capital punishment could remain with the people and their representatives. The author believes that limiting briefing to ten days is not acting expeditiously and that ensuring that the government doesn't execute a person in violation of the Constitution is precisely the role of the courts.

The book Vision chronicles the author's journey from a curious student to a passionate civil rights lawyer and seasoned federal judge. It also chronicles his private journey from shame about his deteriorating vision, to denial about the effects of his blindness, and ultimately to acceptance and equanimity. The memoir is the coda to both of those journeys and is about a love story and a marriage made challenging at times by his blindness.

The decision to write the book was not easy, as the author was embarrassed by his disability and tried to hide it in various ways. Edie, his girlfriend in law school, knew that his vision might deteriorate but few others knew until he started using a white cane. Even once he became completely blind, he avoided the subject as much as possible.

The deeper lessons of the journey—tackling life-altering change, dealing with uncertainty, surviving fear—are universal. The most profound lesson is one the author has learned only slowly: don't deny your challenges, embrace them.

The author would rather not be blind, but at long last, they are comfortable with that part of themselves. Their blindness affects how they function, relate to people, and view the world. However, when serving as a federal judge, the author strove to ensure that my blindness never affected his rulings.

The two threads of this memoir have inverse trajectories. When coming of age, the author was inspired by the role lawyers and courts played in enforcing the guarantees of the great Constitution but was unwilling to deal with his declining vision. Now, a half century later, the author is concerned about the Supreme Court's apparent disregard for the principles of judicial restraint and its implications for our planet and democracy.

My Childhood

Growing up in Silver Spring, Maryland, the author grew up in a quiet, sleepy neighborhood surrounded by government scientists, kids, and stay-at-home moms. Family social life revolved around school, their father's science lab, the neighborhood pool, and the Jewish Community Center. The author's family enjoyed dinner together, discussing politics and their family's political stance. Washington seemed like a large suburb, with the city feeling like a quiet, sleepy place.

The author's friends and family enjoyed riding D.C. trolleys, visiting iconic landmarks, and enjoying the beautiful, wooded area of Rock Creek Park. However, not everyone was fortunate, as racial covenants and steering kept suburbs like Silver Spring virtually all white. Schools were also mostly white, and the Crystal Pool was segregated.

The author's only exposure to Black people was at the downtown bowling alley, where the pin boys were Black. Most of the dads in the neighborhood had come to Washington to aid the war effort, and the author's father was part of the