“Sheila, at least she seemed pleased with you during that death penalty case. You’d been so scared about that,” Kevin offered, attempting normalcy. “That, by the way, was an amazing argument. I wonder how Stevens will come out. It was pretty clear with the other two.”

“From some of his other opinions I’ve read in the past, it seems he’s open to second chances. We’ll see,” I said, shrugging. “And Betsy, I know you worked on that case. Did you actually suggest to her that we shouldn’t overturn the opinion below and not give this guy a fair sentencing hearing?”

“As I said before, we’re really not supposed to discuss this until after the judges have decided. So, I’m pleading the Fifth, OK, Sheila?” In addition to pretty hair, Betsy could keep a secret, an unusual—and respectable—combination.

“What we can discuss is Friedman’s sleep-sitting. Did you guys see how pissed she was when she finally woke up?” Matthew asked, popping one of my deviled eggs.

Betsy leaned in and smiled. “Totally pissed. I have to ask—is Friedman really crazy? I mean, Judge Adams is such a class act she’d never come out and say something nasty about anyone, especially not a colleague. Also, she’s got to consider her husband’s campaign but she does allude to not really liking Friedman,” she said excitedly. I instantly loved Betsy—a gossip! So, too, was Walt.

“Yeah, I guess your judge called our judge a couple of days ago,” Walt said, gasping for air, “and practically threatened her to sign on to some opinion from a previous sitting. [Gasp.] I happened to be in the office when she called and the judge just grimaced. She didn’t even take her off speaker-phone. Nor did she have a chance to respond. [Gasp.] Friedman just kept lecturing her about how things didn’t work this way and that way and how judges are supposed to support each other and sign each other’s opinions. Finally she hung up and Adams just said, ‘Helga can be really difficult sometimes. I just let her talk. I can’t be bothered.’” Gasp, gasp, gasp.

Evan shuddered, overtaken by agita. Having others not respect Judge Friedman somehow demeaned his clerkship. “Excuse me. But our judge is a brilliant jurist. One of the last great liberals. She stands up for the rights of the downtrodden—homosexuals, Hispanics, African America—”

“Yeah, that’s why she thinks gay automatically means hookers and hash!” I blurted. Blank stares all around.