California's top court grills 'Fabulist' Glass in his bid to practice law

CBS News via AP

Stephen Glass, a former writer for The New Republic, in a video frame grab released by CBS's "60 Minutes," in 2003.

By Dan Levine, Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Glass, one of the most infamous fabricators in modern U.S. journalism, faced a hostile California Supreme Court on Wednesday in his quest to demonstrate that he is a changed man with the moral fiber needed for admission to the state bar.

Glass was a magazine journalism phenomenon in the late 1990s whose stories appeared in publications including Rolling Stone, Harper's and The New Republic. Eventually, Glass acknowledged that 42 articles were partly or wholly fabricated, according to a filing prepared by Glass's attorneys.

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After his journalism career ended, Glass attended law school and applied to the California State Bar. The Committee on Bar Examiners, which requires that applicants "receive a positive moral character determination," rejected his application. Glass then appealed to a special court, which granted the admission request.

The Committee on Bar Examiners challenged that ruling, and the California Supreme Court agreed to review it.

At a hearing Wednesday in Sacramento, Glass's attorney, Jon Eisenberg, argued that Glass had reformed, undergone extensive psychotherapy and gained the trust of his co-workers.

"The question is, is he a liar today?" Eisenberg said. "The record demonstrates, as well as any record can demonstrate, that he is not a liar today."

Eisenberg faced skeptical questions from every justice on the seven-member court. Justice Carol Corrigan said Glass has not performed the kind of charitable good works that demonstrate strong character, which people making far less money than Glass do all the time.

"They say character is what you do when no one is looking," Corrigan said, adding that Glass's track record on that score has been "abysmal."

Glass's journalism career came crashing down in 1998 when one of his editors received a tip that a story was a fabrication.

"Glass invented sources, events and organizations. He concocted quotes," his attorneys acknowledged in a court filing. "On several occasions he told mean-spirited and hurtful lies about real people."