WASHINGTON — Time becomes an abstract concept after you have spent 47 hours sitting on the sidewalk outside the Supreme Court.
Searching her memory, Kathie McClure, a 57-year-old trial lawyer from Atlanta, struggled to recall when the fight broke out over the fourth and fifth spots in line to attend this week’s arguments in a constitutional challenge to the health care law. It was sometime on Saturday, she remembered. But was it before or after the “Road to Repeal” Tea Party rally, which started at noon? And when was it that she ducked into a Starbucks to warm up after being out in the rain?
Heading into the first of three days of Supreme Court arguments on Monday, the pavement occupied by the approximately 15 people in line Sunday morning was among the most coveted real estate in Washington. Tickets are scarce even for those connected to the case. And for everyone else, there’s the line.
It started with two people who were in line by 9:30 a.m. on Friday, waiting to score one of at least 60 seats made available to the general public for each day of arguments, said Kathy Arberg, a Supreme Court spokeswoman.
Monica Haymond, a 23-year-old legal assistant who passed the time by watching episodes of “Dr. Who” on her laptop, lined up after work Friday — 63 hours before arguments were to begin. “We were hoping to be the first people here, but apparently it was more competitive than we had ever imagined,” she said.
The first two in line declined to be interviewed, and others identified them as paid placeholders.
In Washington, anyone who wants to attend a judicial or Congressional hearing and can afford to spend $36 to $50 an hour can hire professional “line standers” through companies like Washington Express to do the waiting for them. LineStanding.com, which had people waiting outside the court over the weekend, lets customers choose how early they want their surrogate to arrive, including an option labeled “please put us at the front of the line.”
Witnesses say the fight Saturday was over a couple of placeholders’ spots. According to Ms. McClure, who was just behind the placeholders, a supervisor for one of the companies discovered that two workers had abandoned the line, leaving his prime fourth and fifth spots unattended. He began arguing with the others in line and with the court police, a heated exchange that included “some mild threats,” Ms. Haymond wrote on her blog.
Ms. McClure said the police threatened to remove the supervisor’s employees from the line. He managed to negotiate the return of one of his lost seats, moving Ms. McClure up to No. 5 and, according to Ms. Haymond, prompting the creation of an unofficial roster.
As Ms. Arberg, the spokeswoman, noted, nobody is assured a seat until Monday morning, at which point those in line can either go in or stick around for Tuesday’s or Wednesday’s arguments. For the most part, the line standers police themselves, generally sticking to a friendly code that allows for bathroom breaks and food runs.
Though only a few people joined the line between Friday night and Sunday morning, the faces changed from hour to hour. Most were paid placeholders and volunteers who worked in shifts. John Winslow, the manager ofLineStanding.com, said he paid his placeholders $18 an hour, half the company’s fee of $36 an hour.
Rev. Rob Schenck, president of Faith and Action, a Christian group that opposes the law’s requirement that employers cover contraception, said that a team of staff members, others the group was compensating and some volunteers were holding spots in line for him and three others. Among the volunteers were his three adult children.
“No matter what kind of puny compensation they would receive, it’s way above and beyond the call of duty,” he said of the placeholders.
As one might expect during an overcast weekend on a Washington sidewalk, there were ups and downs. The group was upbeat on Friday night when temperatures were in the 50s, but by 2 a.m. Sunday, they were huddled under ponchos and tarps in the pouring rain, struggling to sleep while observing the “no camping” rule that prohibited tents.
Faith and Action, which occupies a row house near the court, opened its doors, offering free food and access to its two showers. And as those in line emphasized, there was a congenial atmosphere that disregarded opinions on the case’s outcome as people shared food and offered to pick up extra sleeping bags for those without.
But Ms. McClure, who has two children with chronic health problems and has traveled the country in a purple bus to drum up support for the law, said they should not have had to wait in line at all, arguing that the court’s proceedings should be televised.
“This is a momentous case,” Ms. McClure said. “Insurance coverage for 30
million people is on the line, and we’re having to sleep on the sidewalk to
get a peep at what goes on in there?”