CBA Record Sept-Oct 2019

Reflections from the Seventh Circuit BY JUDGE WILLIAM BAUER I had the honor of attending a private funeral and burial ceremony of Associate Justice John Paul Stevens at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C., on July 23, 2019. I was the only surviv- ing member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit who was privileged to have served with John Paul Stevens on that court. It occurred to me then that many members of the Chicago Bar Association did not have the privilege to know Justice John Paul Stevens as a friend and mentor, and only knew him as a Justice of the Supreme Court and the occasional visitor to the City of Chicago. I thought it might of interest to them to know more about what kind of a man Justice John Paul Ste- vens was, and I propose to tell them.

lege Dublin), coined a definition of a gentleman: “A gentleman is one who never offends.” This definition is both true and complete, as far as it goes. John Paul Stevens met this definition by any criteria. He was one of the kindest men I ever met. He assisted his brothers and sisters on the bench, the lawyers who appeared before him, and the students to whom he lectured.

It is my good fortune to have known John Paul Stevens for over 50 years. I never a met a man who would make you feel more comfortable while expounding his ideas or even while engaging in small talk. He was universally loved because he universally loved, and he left a legacy that made the world a better place. Over a hundred years ago, Cardinal Newman (then-President of a college in Dublin, which became University Col-

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