As Ghislaine Maxwell’s family is escorted into the courthouse, an accuser waits in the cold
Tue, December 28, 2021, 8:10 AM
View attachment 327837View attachment 327838 Placeholders wait in the pre-dawn hours outside the courtroom in New York City
The line at the Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in lower Manhattan begins in the dead cold of night, with a handful of men, shivering under blankets or umbrellas, huddling sometimes in a nearby parked car to keep warm in the wee hours of the morning.
The line-sitters, as they are called, earn $30 to $50 an hour for holding a place in line from 2 to 7 a.m. for those who can afford it — mostly journalists, but some members of the public — to guarantee themselves a seat in the courtroom.
Liz Stein can’t afford a line-sitter, so she waits in line almost every day.
Her day begins at 4 a.m.
She takes a two-hour Greyhound bus ride from her home in Center City, Philadelphia, to the bus depot in midtown Manhattan. She then takes the subway to downtown and walks to Foley Square to wait in front of the courthouse, often in the bitter wind, her feet numb, along with everyone else. At the end of the day, she makes the same two-hour trip back home.
On a good day, the line at the courthouse is short, and she gets into the main courtroom with no questions asked.
On this day, Stein, 48, is dressed impeccably, wearing a bright pink wool coat on top of a blazer, a black skirt and practical shoes; there is often a strand of pearls or a delicate gold locket around her neck.
She sits in the overflow gallery, a backpack at her feet. Inside, are two Victoria’s Secret nightgowns and a black Escada ball gown. She says these items were given to her more than two decades ago by Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, a vivid and painful reminder of the sexual assaults she says she suffered as a 21-year-old college student.