Facing the Klieg Lights: Understanding the "Good Moral Character"
Facing the Klieg Lights: Understanding the "Good Moral Character"
Facing the Klieg Lights: Understanding the "Good Moral Character"
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CLEMENSFINAL.DOC<br />
3/30/2007 12:51:01 PM<br />
262 AKRON LAW REVIEW [40:255<br />
President-lawyers participated, too. Andrew Jackson challenged<br />
attorney and Tennessee Governor John Sevier after Sevier accused<br />
Jackson of engaging in petty, shifty, or insignificant legal practice. 65<br />
Dueling was so pervasive that even Abraham Lincoln almost fought a<br />
saber duel with ano<strong>the</strong>r lawyer, <strong>the</strong> Illinois state auditor. 66 Lincoln was<br />
challenged in 1842 after he was unmasked as <strong>the</strong> author of some<br />
embarrassing newspaper articles, 67 but he quickly apologized to avoid<br />
bloodshed. 68 Under those rules, after Ann Coulter leaked that her legal<br />
advisee, Paula Jones, knew of some “distinguishing characteristic” of<br />
Bill Clinton, <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>n-president should have challenged her. 69<br />
Fortunately for Coulter, 70 modern attorneys only take aim with Rule 11<br />
sanction motions, not pistols. 71<br />
Fur<strong>the</strong>r examples of dueling attorneys include: a “young Tennessee<br />
lawyer [who] fatally stabbed a sketch artist after <strong>the</strong> artist drew him in a<br />
humorous and satirical fashion;” 72 “[a]n Arkansas superior court judge<br />
[who] killed ano<strong>the</strong>r Arkansas superior court judge in a duel after <strong>the</strong><br />
latter judge offended <strong>the</strong> former’s wife during a card game;” 73 “a<br />
Massachusetts attorney [who] took offense to a newspaper article drafted<br />
by ano<strong>the</strong>r lawyer under ano<strong>the</strong>r assumed name;” 74 a Georgia attorney,<br />
William Crawford, who killed a man for embarrassing a Georgia<br />
Superior Court Judge by putting on <strong>the</strong> record in a civil case “some<br />
foolish letters written by <strong>the</strong> judge to <strong>the</strong> attorney’s client;” 75 and a<br />
64. Id. (citing SEITZ, supra note 56, at 173).<br />
65. Id. at 24 n.33<br />
66. Id. at 24 (citing HAMILTON COCHRAN, NOTED AMERICAN DUELS AND HOSTILE<br />
ENCOUNTERS 126-27 (1963)).<br />
67. Id.<br />
68. Id. at 28.<br />
69. David Daley, Spin on <strong>the</strong> Right; Ann Coulter: Light’s All Shining on Her, HARTFORD<br />
COURANT, June 25, 1999, at F1.<br />
70. Max Blumenthall, Ann Coulter at CPAC on ‘Ragheads’ and Assassinating Bill Clinton,<br />
THE HUFFINGTON POST, Feb. 10, 2006, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/anncoulter-at-cpac-on-r_b_15434.html.<br />
71. See, e.g., FED. R. CIV. P. 11; 28 U.S.C. § 1927 (2000).<br />
72. Roots, supra note 36, at 24 & n.34 (“Although <strong>the</strong> lawyer was indicted for murder, his<br />
attorneys argued he was defending his honor against Yankee disrespect, and a jury acquitted him.”<br />
(citing DICK STEWARD, DUELS AND THE ROOTS OF VIOLENCE IN MISSOURI 88-89 (2000)))<br />
73. Id. (citing Lynn Foster, Their Pride and Ornament: Judge Benjamin Johnson and <strong>the</strong><br />
Federal Courts in Early Arkansas, 22 U. ARK. LITTLE ROCK L. REV. 21, 30 (1999)).<br />
74. Id. at 25 (citing ROGER TILLINGHAST CLAPP, DUELING IN RHODE ISLAND (AND<br />
ELSEWHERE) 19 (1977)).<br />
75. Id. at 25-26. After Crawford killed on behalf of <strong>the</strong> judge, he gained “renewed<br />
professional approval,” including election to <strong>the</strong> United States Senate, followed by latter<br />
appointments as Minister to France and Secretary of <strong>the</strong> Treasury under Presidents Madison and<br />
Monroe. Id.