As if the universe were designed to inflate his ego, Sumner found himself being assigned one of the most important jobs in the Supreme Court after just a few days of sitting in the back of the courtroom. During every case, an official reporter was tasked with taking notes on each lawyer’s arguments and each judge’s oral decisions. Those notes were privately published in reports that became the official record. Recently, the previous reporter, Henry Wheaton, had sued the current reporter, Richard Peters, for copyright infringement. When the case was heard at the Court, Peters asked Sumner to
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