Oyez Oyez Oyez
After tossing and turning all night, my alarm finally went off, it was 4am Monday morning, time to get up. I jumped out of bed, steamed my suit, and headed out to the metro station to be on the first train into D.C. It was the Supreme Court’s final week of their session, with the Trump v. Hawaii decision looming and I was going to be in the courtroom to hear the decision of the court. One of the major projects of the NCSC interns is to do a presentation on any international topic of our choosing, for the IPD staff at the end of the summer. After much discussion and revision, Maddie and I decided to do it on migration, comparing the US’ immigration and asylum laws to the EU and international standards. As research for our presentation, we convinced our boss to let us go to the Supreme Court to hear the decision be handed down in what would be a landmark case for our presentation.
When we arrived at the Court at 5:45 am, the line was already beginning to wrap around the sidewalk. There was a group of students who had been outside the Court since 2:00 am! There is no definitive indication of how many people will be allowed in the courtroom, and being around seventy people back (with peoples friends mysteriously multiplying in front of us), I wasn't so sure we were going to make it in. Around 8 am, the first group of fifty went inside, we did not make the cut and stood outside the court anxiously waiting to know if there would be more people admitted. It was a beautiful morning in D.C., with plenty of protestors arriving in anticipation for the courts remaining cases, so there was plenty to watch to keep me busy. Just as the list of what cases would be announced that day were published, I received my golden ticket (see photo below of me freaking out), I WAS GOING INTO THE COURT!
After passing through two security checkpoints and locking my belongings in my locker, I was ushered to my seat in the corner, with a perfect view of where Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan sit. The next fifteen minutes crawled by as we waited for the clock to strike ten and the justices to appear. But all at once, there they were: Kagan, Ginsburg, Alito, Kennedy, Roberts, Thomas, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Gorsuch came out. I tried to maintain my composure, blink back the tears in my eyes, and focus on breathing the same air my heros were breathing.
It turns out that Trump v. Hawaii was not handed down on Monday, so the research purpose of our trip failed. However, having the experience of being at the court, seeing the justices in real life, and the excitement that came with it will be one of my most lasting memories of the summer. Returning to work after having that experience was a bit of a challenge.
But return to work I did. On Monday and then again on Friday, I sat in on a teleconference with NCSC’s General Counsel, who is in Williamsburg, on GDPR (the data privacy legislation in Europe that I wrote a memo on two weeks ago). After all the time I’ve spent trying to make sense of this regulation, I think I might actually really be interested in data privacy. I also wrote a memo on USAID activity in Nicaragua and began research on a second Nicaragua memo for next week. It is also proposal time in the office, so when I wasn't doing research, I was assisting with the editing of the proposal documents to prepare them for submission.
It has been a QUITE a week. My mom and aunt also visited this weekend so I got to do some touristy activities and visit Georgetown for the first time. I don’t really think this week can be topped.
