January 15, 2010

Transcript of the day

THE COURT: The last marriage that I performed, Mr. Cooper, involved a groom who was ninety-five, and the bride was eighty-three. I did not demand that they prove that they intended to engage in procreative activity. Now, was I missing something?

MR. COOPER: No, your Honor, you weren't. Of course, you didn't.

THE COURT: And I might say it was a very happy relationship.

MR. COOPER: I rejoice to hear that.
— From "A Risky Proposal" by Margaret Talbot.

1 comment:

Scot1and said...

This was my favorite section:

At the pretrial hearing, Judge Walker kept asking Charles Cooper, the lawyer defending Proposition 8, how exactly it did so. “I’m asking you to tell me,” he said at last, “how it would harm opposite-sex marriages.”

“All right,” Cooper said.

“All right,” Walker said. “Let’s play on the same playing field for once.”

There was a pause—it seemed like a long one to people in the courtroom, though it was probably only a few seconds. And Cooper said, “Your Honor, my answer is: I don’t know. I don’t know.