Let's Hear It for Chief Judge Wells!

Oh boy were there good times in the bunker yesterday as Judge Linda Ann Wells became the first female Chief Judge of the 3d DCA.

Much like we'll be looking back at the gay marriage wars twenty years from now, the investiture included remembering a time when there were very few woman lawyers (it wasn't that long ago) and a partial reading from Bradwell v. Illinois, the lamentable 1873 Supreme Court decision upholding the right of Illinois to exclude women from the Bar because admitting them to practice would surely destroy their "femininity."

Doesn't it feel good to be on the right side of history?

Judge Emas also led a raucous "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" to Judge Schwartz, who officially turned 39 the other day.

Congrats all around!