The best part of clerking for a federal district court judge was watching naturalization ceremonies. These are occasions both solemn and joyous, and they presented a rare opportunity for me, as the clerk, to announce the commencement of the proceedings with the "long call," which begins, as I recall, with "Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!" (Though maybe there were only two Oyezs.)
American citizenship is something most of us take for granted most of the time. But we shouldn't. Here's one reason why.
That is a great reason. Like that author,I attended a naturalization ceremony when I was an extern. The ceremony is easily the happiest people one ever sees in a courtroom. One thing that struck me was the oath that immigrants take to become citizens. It is a strongly-worded oath and I wonder how many people who are citizens by birth would take the oath if it were required of them.
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