Supreme Questions
By Jess Dankenbring, ’17
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan wasn’t even halfway through the door before she told the students and professors to be seated. She wasn’t concerned with formalities. Instead of taking her place behind the podium, she leaned casually against a desk and welcomed questions from a room full of University of Richmond students.
The conversation was part of a trip to Washington, D.C. in early October, sponsored by the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement and the Department of Political Science. Students from professors Jennifer Bowie and Stephen Simon’s classes also had the chance to tour the U.S. Supreme Court and watch oral arguments on the Burt v. Titlow case.
It was an opportunity for students to see the law in action, and ask questions of someone with a rare level of expertise on the subject.
“It is pretty scary to ask such a high-ranking person a question, but she had a really nice demeanor,” Bowie says. “She used to be a professor at Chicago School of Law and Harvard, so she’s used to working with students and she likes talking to them.”
Kyle Linardo, ’15, who is majoring in leadership studies and political science and plans to attend law school, was the first student to ask Justice Kagan a question.
“Having the opportunity to sit down with a Supreme Court justice, who granted us a half hour of her time to field questions was definitely the most interesting part of the entire trip,” Linardo says. “It’s a very valuable experience to really go and see something that you’ve studied, especially something like a Supreme Court case. It definitely cemented my interest in constitutional law.”
Sarah May, ’14, wanted to know more about the work of law clerks, a path she’s considering after going to law school. “It was a little nerve-racking just because she is such a prestigious woman,” May says. “But she’s very pleasant and makes everyone feel very comfortable in the room, which is something that I was really surprised by. It was nice to get a response from Justice Kagan about law clerks and their positions and how you get a position like that at the Supreme Court.”
The impact that this trip has on students in the classroom is one with lasting effects. It brings their learning to life, particularly when watching an oral argument in front of the Supreme Court.
“Even though the oral argument itself only lasts an hour, I like to think that now every time they read an opinion, it carries over,” Simon says. “They can picture the people and the arguments that went into it. When they read in the book, ‘the government argued this and the defense counsel argued that,’ they can see what that’s actually going to look like in the room. There’s going to be a person standing at the table and there’s going to be these nine justices peppering them with questions. These are real people, not just names in a book.”