Memento mori
It's always a good idea to be mindful of death. Bach thought about death all the time; Sherwin Nuland wrote, beautifully, about how we die. An online ”death clock” can helpfully predict your last day, but I wouldn't trust it. The NRA has its own clock up, just to show how harmless firearms are. Just in case you might run into a disoriented doctor, or a misfiring shotgun, it's best to live as if each day was the last.
My old law firm sent out an email today saying that John Pickering had suffered a severe stroke and was in grave condition. I had an office next to John's for several years. I always enjoyed sitting down and talking with him.
The first time John Pickering ever appeared in court to argue a case was at the U.S. Supreme Court. Only a few years out of school, the former clerk to Justice Frank Murphy was appointed to represent an indigent defendant. Murphy's beliefs in protecting the rights of the individual inspired Pickering to develop one of the most influential and diverse records in Supreme Court advocacy. He played a major role in cases that defined the limits on presidential authority (Youngstown v. Sawyer), checks and balances between the branches of government (Powell v. McCormack), civil rights (NAACP v. Claiborne County, Mississippi), and physician-assisted suicide (Vacco v. Quill). More recently, Pickering has been a leading legal mind in the right-to-die debate, an issue he has repeatedly taken back to where he started: the Supreme Court.
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