Old Friends, New Admittees, Same Constitution: CWBA Members Reflect on a Historic Day at the Supreme Court
- Emma Garrison
- 18 hours ago
- 9 min read
— As told to Emma Garrison (that’s me!), with a few reflections of my own along the way
From idea to plan (with a side of pandemic)
Emma: I think this all started when Kristi sent a group text in early 2019 asking if we would be interested in traveling to Washington to get sworn in to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Kristi: I was inspired by Ruth Bader Ginsburg! I wanted to attend oral arguments and get sworn in before RBG. I knew the experience wouldn’t be complete without incredible women lawyers by my side. I originally applied for a date in 2020, and we were approved for April 1, 2020 admissions!
Kimberly: Because the COVID pandemic reared its ugly head at the exact same time, our plans were derailed—flights cancelled, hotel reservations rescinded, and the Court closed to the public.
Kristi: I felt renewed energy to apply for admissions again five years after the COVID cancelation. While we would not have the chance to see RBG in action, just being there would give us a sense of her accomplishments and it would be incredible to observe oral arguments. I asked for another April date so we could see the cherry blossoms in bloom!
Suzanne: After returning from vacation in Vietnam, I nearly abandoned plans to join the swearing-in because I couldn’t secure sponsors in time. But Kristi refused to let me quit, connecting me with sponsor Danielle Bettencourt. Long-time colleague, Gary Tobey, also agreed to sponsor me. Conversations with both—especially Gary, a Vietnam veteran—made me realize this would be a deeply meaningful experience.
Amber: I was hesitant when the opportunity first came along in 2020. However, after a little soul searching and coaxing from Kristi, I hit the pavement to collect my sponsors’ signatures. And then the pandemic foiled our plans. When Kristi asked again in 2025, I didn’t hesitate to say “yes.”
Kimberly: Kristi masterfully and enthusiastically arranged this trip for our group!
Kristi: The group application requires providing a group name, preferably the name of a bar association. So naturally I asked CWBA for permission to use this name for our group!
Ilene: I was so honored to be invited to participate with this group of amazing women lawyers and said yes almost immediately. I know these women through our mutual friend Alli Gerkman, who passed away in 2019, and I felt that this would also be a lovely way to honor Alli’s memory together. I started checking the Court’s docket daily to see what case would be argued that day and could not believe our good fortune that we would be present for the birthright citizenship oral argument.
Waking up in Washington
Ilene: My first thought that morning was how excited I was to go for a run around Capitol Hill with Kristi before the admissions ceremony, despite it being 3:15am Denver time.
Suzanne: After seeing my hair in the mirror, all I could think was, "I forgot about humidity."
Emma: As I was getting ready, I got a text message from a friend: “I just saw that Trump is going to be there.” I audibly gasped!
Kristi: When we got back from our run, I heard the news. I was reeling. There were tears while pacing around with anger and frustration.
Ilene: I felt confused. Despite there being no “law” against this, it felt distracting and did not seem appropriate to me. However, I did not let it take away from my excitement.
Kimberly: I could feel the heaviness of the moment, and I suspect others did too.
Amber: I put my husband on alert that he may have to bail me out of jail for contempt, because nothing, not even the President interrupting the swearing-in or another pandemic, was going to keep me from being admitted to the bar that day.
Inside the Court
Kimberly: Oddly, the first thing that struck me was the lack of (visible) security outside of the Supreme Court. There were a lot of news media organizations setting up live shots by the time I arrived, as well as a block-long line of people hoping to watch the proceedings.
Amber: As we entered the building, I felt like a celebrity passing through the media circus with the group and a security escort. As we were escorted to the conference room, I recalled that the last time I toured the Supreme Court, I was eighteen years old and had just decided to pursue a career as an attorney.
Emma: My heart swelled with pride when I saw a sign that read: “Welcome Colorado Women’s Bar Association.”
Kristi: I was struck by the portrait of RBG! Standing before it with such an incredible group of friends and colleagues by my side was so special. I also loved being there under the name Colorado Women’s Bar Association! I felt how far we’ve come and that we have a long way to go. That was an unforgettable moment.
Ilene: It was inspiring to see the portraits of the Justices on the walls. I thought about all the history the Supreme Court has shaped, and all the lives that have been affected by oral arguments made in that building. I was also struck by how calm the staff members were.
Suzanne: I was amazed by the sheer number of staff within the building, all of whom were pleasant, professional, helpful, informative, and firm about where we should go, not go, and when.
Emma: The staff were so nice! I’d always thought about the Supreme Court in terms of the Justices and their clerks. After spending the morning there, I will never forget the hundreds of other employees whose work quietly keeps the institution running.
Kimberly: I have always been an architecture buff, so seeing the details of each space was breathtaking. Even the conference room where our group waited was so meticulously curated and detailed in every way. I was envious of the staffers with offices facing the courtyard with the fountain. What a view!
Emma: The conference room was so Old-World-ornate I felt like I was in an episode of “The West Wing.”
Taking the Oath
Emma: We had been warned repeatedly that the final opportunity for a bathroom break would be at 9:15am, so I made my move around 9:10. When I returned, everyone was lined up in swearing-in order. A few moments later, we filed into the courtroom.
Ilene: The courtroom was smaller than I expected!
Kimberly: I feel my expectation of the courtroom’s size may have been skewed by too many courtroom sketches or TV shows!
Amber: Phenomenal cosmic powers! Itty bitty living space!
Kristi: My mind was a jumble of thoughts. “Wow!” “We are just a couple rows behind the counsel tables and THE US SUPREME COURT JUSTICES!” “Those curtains look really old.” “Is that Nina Totenburg?” “I hope I don’t have to pee!”
Amber: My seat wedged up against a wooden railing, right beside a colorful group of people bouncing up and down like prairie dogs trying to see over the crowd. It was the press! The bailiff kept hissing at them to sit down and be quiet. I knew exactly when the President arrived because the Press agreed to report 9:47am EDT.
Emma: I was worried that the Court would skip the attorney admissions process because of a certain elected official in the audience.
Kimberly: It was a blur of excitement. Our group was joined by several individual applicants and their sponsors and a group of attorneys from Florida.
Kristi: President Trump had to sit through our swearing-in ceremony. He didn’t even have his phone to distract him—no electronics were allowed in the courtroom, for anyone.
Suzanne: I felt so proud standing at the front of the courtroom with my fellow admittees. I thought about all of us getting sworn in and the diverse groups that we represented, most of whom could not have appeared in this courtroom as solicitors or even exercised the rights of a citizen at the time of the passage of the 14th Amendment—the centerpiece of the argument that day.
Kristi: When organizing the group admission, I got connected with John Cruden (an incredible environmental lawyer and law professor). He was the one who stood before the Court to formally move for our admission to the Supreme Court bar.
Emma: When John stood at the podium and introduced us as “applicants from the Colorado Women’s Bar Association,” my heart swelled with pride all over again. I was seated directly in front of Justice Gorsuch, and when we were introduced, Justice Sotomayor leaned over and whispered something to him. I think she said: “Do you know them?” He shook his head.
Ilene: I will never forget standing up before the Justices and the Clerk and taking the oath. Even though I will not actually argue a case in front of the Supreme Court, it felt like an excellent way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of my law school graduation!
Kimberly: The swearing in happened quickly and was an exercise in choreographed efficiency that was quite impressive to see.
Emma: Efficient is the word! I don’t think Chief Justice Roberts took a breath between congratulating the newly admitted attorneys and stating, “we will hear argument this morning in Case 25-365, Trump versus Barbara.”
“It’s the same Constitution.”
Amber: I have worked in immigration law for more than 30 years, so I could not believe our luck when I found out that we would hear oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara.
Kimberly: I was impressed by the amount of detailed preparation by counsel (Solicitor General John Sauer and Cecillia Wang, national legal director for the ACLU). Both sides cited—with seemingly supernatural ease—to exact pages and paragraphs of legal cases, statutes, and even foreign law that was well over 150 years old.
Kristi: The Justices’ chairs really recline! At one point Justice Clarence Thomas had his hands behind his head, eyes closed, and laid way back in his chair.
Emma: I’d like to officially coin the phrase “resting Alito face.” Rigid posture. Stern expressions. I wondered if it had something to do with Trump’s presence, but John (our movant) told us afterwards that it was Justice Alito’s baseline demeanor.
Kimberly: The justices did not shy away from making their skepticism known to the Solicitor General but gave him every opportunity to make his case.
Kristi: My favorite exchange of the oral arguments was when General Sauer said “We're in a new world now, and Chief Justice Roberts responded, “Well, it's a new world. It's the same Constitution.”
Amber: I had a very difficult time not shouting at General Sauer. I restrained myself with the thought that I did not want to miss the rest of the argument, much less face the secret service.
Suzanne: One of Justice Kavanagh's questions directed to Ms. Wang stood out as a candidate for satiric reenactment on SNL. He said, this “could be just a short opinion, right, that says the better reading [of Wong Kim Ark] is Respondents’ reading.”
Amber: I was struck by the Solicitor General’s emphasis on “domicile” as a test for citizenship. I thought about how married women in 1868 could not legally establish domicile. I was imagining exhausted mothers being asked to prove legal status in the delivery room.
Emma: As Justice Jackson noted: “Are we bringing pregnant women in for depositions?”
Seeing the Court Through New Eyes
Ilene: I was thrilled that my 16-year-old daughter joined me for the occasion! I was hoping she would feel empowered and inspired by the diversity of the women on the Supreme Court. She took a law class last semester and had some understanding of the process and even knew about the birthright citizenship case.
Amber: I brought my husband, who has been with me through my entire lawyering journey and has heard my war stories about immigration law since the beginning. He got to see the President arrive, react to General Sauer’s arguments, and leave about ten minutes into Ms. Wang’s argument. My mother-in-law started telling everyone that I had been admitted to the Supreme Court in front of the President.
Kimberly: I was joined by my mom and husband. My mom grew up in the segregated south and came of age during the Civil Rights movement. She knew that consequential things happened in this very building that changed the trajectory of her life as a teen growing up in 1960’s Louisiana. My husband is a huge history buff, so being in “the room where ‘it’ happened” was immensely enjoyable for him. The significance of the President attending Supreme Court arguments for the first time was not lost on any of us.
We were there.
Kimberly: Being able to experience this historic day with an amazing group of Colorado attorneys—some of whom I’ve known since the study rooms at DU—is something I will never forget.
Kristi: I’m left with even greater resolve to protect rule of law and the judiciary process in this country, and greater hope in our Supreme Court to uphold rule of law.
Suzanne: I keep thinking about “We the People,” who the Supreme Court will include in “the People,” and all the work that remains “to form a more perfect Union.”
Amber: It was an amazing day personally and historically. We were sworn into the Supreme Court, heard a historic argument in the unprecedented presence of the President of the United States, and, on the same day, NASA launched Artemis II to fly around the moon. Whenever the day’s events are brought up, I can say, “I was there.”
Who was there:
Amber Blasingame, Attorney, Blasingame Law LLC
Ilene Bloom, Attorney, Ilene Lin Bloom, PC
Kristi Disney Bruckner, Law & Policy Director, Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance
Emma Garrison, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Colorado Department of Law
Kimberly Jackson, Attorney-Advisor, Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of the Interior
Suzanne Leff, Partner, WLPP Law
Emma Garrison is a Past President of the Colorado Women’s Bar Association and a Senior Assistant Attorney General in the Tax and Public Finance Unit at the Colorado Department of Law. Since joining the CWBA in 2014, she has served in numerous leadership roles, including President in 2023–24 and as the inaugural Officer of Technology and Processes following the organization’s Board restructure in 2025. She is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.