If you’ve ever spoken with someone who clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, chances are you heard about his house in Alexandria, Virginia. Black invited his clerks to his home for some of the most memorable moments of their clerkships.

Those vivid experiences may help explain why three lawyers who clerked for Black in the early 1960s recently rallied to fulfill the wishes of the justice, who died in 1971. Their goal was to protect Black’s home from renovation plans submitted by the current owner and approved by Alexandria’s City Council.