VIRTUAL PROGRAM

David Tatel- "Vision"

David Tatel served nearly 30 years on America's second highest court, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where many of our most crucial cases are resolved- or teed up for the Supreme Court. He has championed equal justice for his entire adult life; decided landmark environmental and voting cases; and embodied the ideal of what a great judge should be. Yet he has been blind for 50 of his 80-plus years. Initially, he depended upon aides to read texts to him, and more recently, a suite of hi-tech solutions has allowed him to listen to reams of documents at high speed. At first, he tried to hide his deteriorating vision, and for years, he denied that it had any impact on his career. Only recently, partly thanks to his first-ever guide dog, Vixen, he has come to fully accept his blindness and the role it's played in his personal and professional lives. His story of fighting for justice over decades, with and without eyesight, is an inspiration to us all.