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Supreme Court justice Roberts uses sign language to swear in deaf lawyers

By Allen Cone
U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts before his State of the Union address in 2014. Roberts used sign language to swear in deaf justices Tuesday. UPI/Pat Benic
U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts before his State of the Union address in 2014. Roberts used sign language to swear in deaf justices Tuesday. UPI/Pat Benic | License Photo

WASHINGTON, April 20 (UPI) -- Chief Justice John Roberts used signed language Tuesday to admit attorneys to the Supreme Court Bar.

A dozen lawyers from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Bar Association took the oath of admission to conduct themselves "uprightly and according to law"

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After their sponsor, John Stanton, a Justice Department attorney and member of the association, moved their admission, Roberts gave the traditional response in sign language: "Your motion is now granted." He then repeated the phrase in English.

Roberts learned the phrase for the ceremony, Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said.

The 12 weren't the first deaf lawyers to be admitted. In 1982, Michael Chatoff became the first deaf person ever to argue before the Supreme Court, using special technology that transcribed the justices' questions.

New York-based Teresa Curtin was among those sworn in. For her first 12 years practicing law, Curtin often explained to judges that she was not the defendant.

At New York University Law School, she had a sign language interpreter with her in her classes. Upon her graduation in 1988, she said only a few deaf lawyers existed. She now works at Weitz & Luxenberg, a large law firm in New York.

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"We're very proud to be here today because it's about diversity," Curtin told The Washington Post. "We don't think it's so much inspiration as it should be normal."

The deaf lawyers were granted a rare exception of using their mobile devices to read real-time transcripts of the proceeds Wednesday.

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