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At the Spring Meeting in Key Biscayne, Chuck began by acknowledging the role that the American College of Trial Law- yers had in the ascension of his brother to the Supreme Court. Charles Roberts Breyer and Stephen Breyer were born roughly three years apart in San Francisco. They were both active in the Boy Scouts of America and achieved Eagle Scout rank. Stephen attend- ed Stanford undergrad and Harvard Law School; Chuck attended Harvard undergrad and the University of California, Berkeley Law. After stints with the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco and as an assistant district attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, Chuck served as an assistant special prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force. Chuck was inducted into the College in 1989; Stephen became an Honorary Fel- low in 1996. Both Breyers were appointed to the bench by Bill Clinton. After fourteen years on the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, Stephen was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1994. On July 24, 1997, Chuck was nominated by President Clinton to a seat on the Unit- ed States District Court for the Northern District of California; he was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 8, 1997, and received his commission on No- vember 12, 1997. “Maybe not all of you know that, but the organization that was most influential ac- tually is the American College of Trial Law- yers, and I want to just give a little preface so you understand the significance of what they accomplished. “When I was about twelve years old, my brother had acquired a learn- er's permit for driving. And we took a family vacation – which I think is always misnamed, it actually should be a family trip, not family vacation – to Lake Arrowhead, California, and Stephen was driving because my parents wanted him to have the experience of being be- hind a wheel. So he was driving, my father was next to him. I was in the backseat with my mother, and suddenly I heard our father say, "Stephen, what are you doing?" And I looked out the window, and saw the car was at a precipice, about to go over a cliff, and Stephen looked up suddenly and he said, "Dad, I was thinking." “So that is a -- that's a code word in our family for it's going to be trouble. Something really is happening.” At that point, Justice Breyer leaned in. “He wasn't such a good driver either.” Judge Breyer continued: “Yeah, but I was in the back seat. So to go forward to 1993, President Clinton was looking for his first appointment to the United States Supreme Court, and my brother had been mentioned. “And I don't know whether my brother was thinking about his meeting with President Clinton, but he managed to nearly collide with a car while he was on a bicycle, thereby breaking a few ribs, having a hole in his lung, and going to the hospital . . . “Stephen came down to Washington from Boston, had to take Amtrak because he wasn't supposed to fly, and there he was in the White House having lunch with President Clinton and he had three broken ribs, one hole in the lung, and the lunch was a little painful. At the end of the lunch President Clinton remarked to someone that, ‘Gee,’ he said, ‘he's obviously very bright, but does he have a sense of humor?’ “That wasn't apparent in the interview. And as we know, Justice Gins- burg was appointed and my brother sort of resurfaced when a second appointment came. And again Clinton said, ‘Well, I thought he was terrific, but does he have a sense of humor?’ Aha. The College comes into play because my brother had given a speech to the American College, which was humorous.” Justice Breyer inserted himself again. “No, I copied it from Groucho Marx.” Judge Breyer wrapped up the story: SUMMER 2023 JOURNAL 56