Race Read Free Page B

losing?
    JACK : Very flattering.
    SUSAN : Everyone is entitled to a defense.
    JACK : Is that so?
    SUSAN : I believe it.
    JACK (To self) : . . . fucking country . . . (To Susan) Alright. What are the Two Things. I told you. On Day One.
    SUSAN : You have to make them like your guy enough to let him off.
    JACK : Or?
    SUSAN : Make them like themselves enough, for making a quote difficult decision.
    JACK : What were the words I used?
    SUSAN : “Give them a hook upon which to hang their bad judgment.”
    JACK : Tell me one.
    (Pause.)
    SUSAN : She’s a homewrecker. She’s: Destroying the Sanctity of the American Home.
    JACK : And why do we “like” him.
    SUSAN : That’s why we like him. We get to discover he’s the victim. Everyone loves the victim.

    JACK : On a secure line?
    SUSAN : . . . yes?
    JACK : She’s black . We cannot put . Enough White people. On the jury. To find one who is not afraid. Of being thought prejudiced. By letting him off, on your theory.
    SUSAN : Because?
    JACK : She can’t be a homewrecker.
    SUSAN : Why not?
    JACK : Black people are allowed to commit adultery.
    SUSAN : Is that in the Constitution?
    JACK : No. It’s in the public mind.
    SUSAN : Well, that’s harsh . . .
    JACK : . . . you want the truth or a lie?
    SUSAN : Then are you saying that we shouldn’t take the case?
    JACK : Not under that theory.
    SUSAN : Under what theory then?
    JACK : Alright. (Pause) Let’s turn it upside down.
    SUSAN : Alright.
    JACK : Jury comes in. What do they want?
    SUSAN : What?
    JACK : To struggle bravely against prejudice, and, then, find our client guilty.
    SUSAN : Why?
    JACK : Because he’s sitting in the dock. Why would the state put him there if he was innocent? They are participants in what they conceive of as a “ pageant .” They call it “The Pageant of Justice.” Here is its plot: We will serve the law by our rapt attention to the forms—and then, as a reward, find the fellow guilty. Our job, is to involve them in a different story.
    SUSAN : What is the different story?
    JACK : I don’t know . It’s . . . it’s . . . maybe it’s not a pageant . . .
    SUSAN : What is it?
    JACK : Maybe it’s a war story.
    SUSAN : How does it go?
    JACK : War story goes like this: you ain’t going to believe this, but this is the God’s Truth. End of the day, maybe they let your guy go.
    SUSAN : Because he’s innocent?

    JACK : No, because his entertainer—that would be me—put on a better show. (Pause) Didn’t they tell you that on the Law Review?
    SUSAN : I . . .
    JACK : The jury has a story. In their head. About what happened in that room. We have to drive that story out of their heads.
    SUSAN : How?
    JACK : Tell them a better story.
    SUSAN : For example?
    JACK : For example. What do you recall, about your trip to Venice?
    SUSAN : Why Venice?
    JACK : Why not? What do people recall? Of their trip to New York? The Statue of Liberty? They knew that before they came. They go to Paris, but they don’t recall the Eiffel Tower. They knew the Eiffel Tower. They recall the little Flower Lady, and her Funny Dog. When they get home, that’s what they talk about. The conversation they had with their cab driver. And in the jury box, that’s what they hold to. The Special Thing that they alone appreciated. OUR JOB is to create that experience. Which allows them the illusion of autonomy. Do that in courting, the woman expresses her appreciation, lifting up her dress; in law they do so, by letting your client go free.
    SUSAN : They express their gratitude.
    JACK : Yes.
    SUSAN : By “lifting their dress . . .”
    (Henry enters.)
    HENRY : We gonna take the case? . . .
    JACK : How’s the client?
    HENRY : Holding.
    JACK : I need to talk to Greenstein. And I need the information from Bob Kelley.
    SUSAN : Yes. Good.
    HENRY : His guy’s not picking up.
    JACK (To Susan) : Call his various numbers, get his guy