Becoming Acclimated and hearing from Justice Breyer
This past week started out with a day I will never forget. Most people do not get to hear from a United States Supreme Court Justice, much less be within 50 feet of one. The only other Justice I have heard from was former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whom I heard speak at Jamestown's 400th Anniversary in a crowded and sweltering Jamestown field. Being in 8th grade at the time, I could not fully appreciate who I was hearing from. This week, I got to attend a more personal lecture.
I attended the 41st annual Supreme Court Historical Society Lecture, of which my boss is a member. Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, was this year's speaker. He spoke generally about the law in today's globalized society, his new book, and some personal anecdotes. Justice Breyer was far funnier than I expected. When we are in class reading Supreme Court opinions, it is often difficult to take a step back and realize that at the end of the day, these 9 (currently 8) Justices are regular people. After the 45 minute lecture, I scrambled down to the bookstore to get a signed copy of Justice Breyer's book. Before we left DC for Arlington, we were offered an exclusive tour of the Supreme Court Library. They allowed us in the library for about 5-6 minutes before quickly ushering us out. Sadly, we were not allowed to take pictures, but it is definitely the prettiest library I've seen.
I've gotten very acclimated to the area, and I generally know my way around. No matter what I'm looking for, it's usually less than 10 minutes away in any direction. I usually spend my first 10 minutes in the office putting my lunch away, checking in with my boss and Senior Legal Counsel, Tim Hughes, and making coffee. After that, I get right back to the assignment I left off with the day before. This week has been a lot of administrative tasks, as well as still working on two dense reports for USAID. I like having more than one assignment at a time because it allows me to really manage my time and stick to a strict deadline. I am working with my boss to create a writing sample in order to use for future job applications. I am excited to be able to focus time on one topic and research area, so I need to narrow down what exactly it will focus on.