Washington (AP) — When Gale Curly began her career as a Marshal of the US Supreme Court within a year, she expected to work primarily behind the scenes. The judge works.
Her most public role was thought to be the courtroom. In court, the Marshal hit Gavel and announced the admission of nine judges in the court.She A simple script is “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!” — Means “listen to you” — and concludes that “God saves the United States and this prestigious court.”
However, earlier this month Curly was handed a bomb of the task, Unprecedented Supreme Court secret infringement, draft opinion leaks, and overt voting oversight Abortion catastrophe.. The leak to Politico suggests that the court appears ready to overturn the Roe v. Wade case. This is the 1973 decision that women have the constitutional right to abortion.It scattered sparks Protests at the judge’s house and 24-hour security,Court demonstration When Concerns about violence after the court’s final decision..
Those who knew Curly explained that former Army colonels and lawyers had the right temperament for expensive leak investigations: wise, private, non-political, and potentially threatening. The sex is low.
“If I can find the truth here, I’m sure she’ll find it and present it in an unbiased way,” said retired Army Brig. General Patrick Houston, the direct boss of the last military position in the Pentagon’s Supreme Court. Houston was very impressed with Curly and had a very good reputation as her leader, but even her two-year boss didn’t know if she had her spouse or children. rice field.
Through a court spokesman, Curly declined the request for an interview. She is the eleventh marshal in court and the second woman in the post. She is also constrained in some respects to her investigation by her position, created shortly after the Civil War in 1867. Experts say the draft opinion leak was probably not a crime and Curly’s investigative tools were limited. She could theoretically hire an outside law firm to assist, and in the case of other judicial records the FBI was called. However, it is not clear whether she or others have the authority to issue subpoenas to obtain materials from journalists, or less than 100. Court people — including judges — have access to the draft opinion.
There seems to be no precedent in the investigation. In 1973, the results of the Roe case were leaked hours before the announcement. The chief judge at the time was furious and threatened to test the lie detector, but the leaker quickly came forward and explained that it was an accident...
Overseeing the investigation is nothing new to Curly, even in different circumstances. During her military career, she routinely oversaw more than 12 criminal and administrative investigations, as well as numerous lawyers and paralegals, Houston said. Although she was an authority on international law and the law surrounding armed conflict, the investigations she supervised throughout her career could range from criminal issues involving military personnel to contract issues. Houston described her as “she is not the kind of person threatened by anything.”
Curly began his military career at West Point. At West Point, just under 10% of 1991 graduation classes were women. Lisa Freidel, a member of the same 25-member company as Curly, remembered her as her kind, diligent and at the same time “a pretty serious person.”
“She didn’t like the ridicule of some boys and some guys in our company. They were young men. They do stupid things. She likes it. “It wasn’t,” Freidel recalled, adding that Curly “wanted to be surrounded by intellectuals, wise people who challenged her.”
Curly was called “Swirlin’Curl” in the West Point Yearbook, and her hometown was listed as Baltimore. She was also an introvert, Freidel said, and she remembers that she had never met her parents in Curly, her just aunt and her uncle, and was talking about her brother. She added that she wasn’t.
At school, Curly was interested in American politics and government. This was consistent with being familiar with the current situation, which is one of Westpoint’s requirements. The New York Times was delivered every morning, and Freidel recalled that cadets should have been able to talk about four articles in the newspaper every day.
“I had to make sure the shoes were shining, the buckles on the belt were all shining, and everything was shining before forming, and I had to try to memorize the paper,” she said. ..
Still, Curly found time for extracurricular activities. The internal affairs club to which she belonged went on a trip to Washington in her fourth grade, including her visit with Judge Sandra Day O’Connor. “See you at the White House someday!” Read her yearbook entry.
After graduating, she joined the Army’s signal force. The Army’s signaling unit is responsible for setting up the communication system in the field.
“I was very lucky in my career,” Curly said about that time, according to a 2017 news article. “As a young Army signal officer, I was able to lead a large platoon in Europe during my first mission … when a woman was not allowed to serve as platoon leader in a particular job. “
She eventually earned a law degree from the University of Illinois Law College and became an Army lawyer. Her career took her not only throughout the United States but also to Afghanistan for a year. After that, she first spent three years in Germany as Chief Legal Advisor to the Commander of the United States Army Europe. Lieutenant General Ben HodgesWho are currently retired, and Lieutenant Christopher Cavoli.. Cavoli, Now generalwas Appointed as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander earlier this month..
In Germany, Curly was a senior army lawyer who oversaw about 300 legal officers across Europe. She also provided “legal reviews and advice on the millions of things we were doing,” Hodges said in an interview.
“I don’t know if I’ve met anyone more honestly,” Hodges added, adding that Curly also had a good sense of humor and “real humility.”
The three-star general loved and respected her so much that she sometimes said she would make fun of her. He said she had no problem holding herself.
“She was confident that she knew her IQ was about 40 points higher than mine, and she could afford to be confident,” he said.
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Ben Fox, an AP reporter in Washington, and Jennifer Farrer, an AP researcher in New York, contributed to this report.