“That’s right,” Mason said, and then added, after a moment, “There’s been a lot of loose talk around here about what constitutes professional ethics. I’m glad to have a showdown.”
“You won’t be so glad if the court considers it contempt,” Judge Knox said grimly.
Mason said, “It’s about time the courts realized that they’re agencies for the administration of justice. They’re instruments of the people. They’re here, not to unwind red tape, but to administer justice. I’ll admit my cross-examination was irregular, but what’s wrong with it? I asked Gertrude Lade to stand up. She stood up. I asked Serle if he didn’t remember this young woman as having been at the table next to him. If he’d been telling the truth, he could have said, ‘no,’ that she couldn’t have been there because he wasn’t at the table, and that was all there was to it.”
“But you had this young woman swear she was there,” Kittering protested.
“I had her do nothing of the sort,” Mason said, glancing contemptuously at the excited deputy. “In the first place, she wasn’t under oath. In the second place, all she said was, ‘That’s him.” Obviously, it was. He’s never claimed to be anyone else. I could point at Judge Knox, and yell, ‘That’s him.’ It wouldn’t be a falsehood. He is him. He’s he, if you want to be grammatical.”
“I don’t agree with you,” Kittering said.
“All right,” Mason said. “We’ll debate the point. You take the side that he isn’t he. I’ll say he is. Now, what proof have you to offer?”
“That isn’t what I meant,” Kittering said.
“It’s what you said,” Mason observed.
“Well, you know what I meant.”