Legal Celebrity Sighting
The highlight of my time at NSCS thus far happened this week, I GOT TO GO TO THE SUPREME COURT! The Supreme Court Historical Society puts on an annual lecture every year and thanks to the good people at NCSC, I had the opportunity to attend. Instead of a lecture, this year there was a panel discussion by Edward Whelan and Christopher Scalia (son of Justice Scalia) on a book they had recently authored together called “Scalia Speaks.” The book contains a collection of speeches that Justice Scalia gave throughout his life on a wide range of topics. There was also a surprise guest, former Solicitor General and Scalia Clerk, Paul Clement! I had a fangirl moment when he was introduced but tried to maintain my composure throughout the rest of the lecture. Hearing the panelists personal anecdotes about the late Justice as well as gaining insight into the work Justice Scalia did off the bench was incredibly interesting and an excellent way to spend the afternoon. After the lecture was finished, I also got to go on a tour of the Supreme Court, which was again, VERY exciting.
Back at NCSC, this week I got a break from data analysis and got to do some writing! I wrote a legal memo on the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that has recently gone into effect. I had never really given much thought to how other countries or international organizations laws can affect the United States, but the GDPR’s implications are far outside the boundaries of the EU. There is not any case law on the GDPR since it is brand new, so getting the experience of trying to interpret the statutory language of the regulation was a challenge, but I now know much more about data privacy than I ever planned to know.
I also received another research assignment for the week, related to Human Trafficking in Guatemala. Human Trafficking, known by the Department of State as Trafficking in Persons (TIP) has become a priority of the Department, as it is a HUGE issue in the Americas. Effective prosecution is one of the major pitfalls in many countries to curbing TIP, so working with judges and prosecutors where TIP is a problem is a major project NCSC is taking on.
After a busy week I finally got to meet up with my law school friends also interning throughout D.C. this summer. We did some sightseeing and visited the monuments at night, the pictures truly don’t do the Lincoln Memorial justice.
