Blind Jurist Makes History On Michigan Supreme Court

When Richard Bernstein joins the Michigan Supreme Court in a few days, he will make history as the first blind justice in that state and one of the few judges with visual impairments in the country, Associated Press reports. Bernstein is having briefs for mid-January arguments read to him by an aide and memorizing the key points. He told the AP he internalizes "'the cases word for word, pretty much commit them primarily by memory. I'm asking the reader to pinpoint certain things, read footnotes, look at the legislative record."'

Bernstein, whose family has a personal-injury firm, spent $1.8 million of his own money to campaign for the Supreme Court on the slogan "Blind Justice."