Public Policy Course on "The Supreme Court" Visits Washington D.C.

Washington D.C. felt different as our Fall '24 Supreme Court class arrived to attend oral arguments and hold visits and workshops with alumni/ae and friends throughout the city. Security was more visible than the year before, the city murmured with speculation over the upcoming presidential transition, and people were camped out on First Street for days to hear arguments for and against state bans on gender affirming care.

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People camped out on the sidewalk in front of the Supreme Court building.

Although our class had worked on U.S. v. Skrmetti (the gender-affirming care case) as one of its fall term cases, we decided not to sacrifice the bulk of our time in Washington  - and the safety of our extremities - waiting outside the Court and instead chose to hear arguments in another of the cases we had studied, Republic of Hungary v. Simon.

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The students braved the cold to get a spot in line to hear oral arguments.

The United States Supreme Court heard arguments on December 3rd over whether survivors of the Hungarian Holocaust could sue, in U.S court, the government of Hungary and its national railway under the "Expropriations Exception" to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. The families of the Holocaust survivors sat in front of us in the Court and we all listened closely as the attorneys made strong arguments for each side. But despite the Justices' compassion for the families, a little over two months later the Court decided unanimously that Hungary could not be drawn into U.S. court under the theory presented.

Our visit to the Supreme Court was complemented by two additional days of activities designed to deepen our understanding of the intersections of law, public policy, and government. We visited with a scholar at The American Enterprise Institute to discuss Congress, lawmaking, and the role of D.C. think tanks in the development of public policy. We also had "Dinner with the Fourth Estate", as several seasoned journalists and program- and business-side folks from PBS joined us for Thai food and discussion on the First Amendment and the role of journalism in democracies and rule of law nations.

On Wednesday, we met with two lawyers working at the Department of Justice, one a career attorney in the Civil Rights Division and the other an attorney brought in with the Biden Administration to work for the Antitrust Division. Both Dartmouth alums, these two attorneys offered perspectives on the roles of career and political positions in government agencies, as well as insights into how legal cases make their way through the system, often spanning multiple administrations with differing policy priorities. When asked after the trip which part was most meaningful to them, one student replied, "I was really moved by the DOJ officials. I appreciated their reverence for the institution, candor, life advice, and very clear care for what they do."

Hosted by another Dartmouth alumna, we also visited with three remarkable attorneys from the Special Litigation Division of the Public Defender Services for the District of Columbia. They shared inspiring and often-difficult stories both from their work and their career paths. They also shared information on opportunities to intern with PDS and contribute in meaningful ways to the work of the office, while being exposed to on-the-ground realities of the criminal justice system. As one student noted, "[t]hey offered such a cool perspective on careers I didn't know much about and really opened my eyes to the meaningful ways in which I could use a law degree." As a legal service for DC, the PDS attorneys were not in the same state of transition as those working nearby in federal offices, but they explained that their work isn't immune from changes in political winds, funded as it is by Congressional appropriations.

After the Public Defender Services, we managed to squeeze in an information session and student-led tour of Georgetown Law School. Our hosts from Admissions were generous with their time and advice for our students who are thinking about law school. Some left the visit excited to apply, while others left a bit more circumspect, but all of us were unabashedly thrilled to see the athletic facilities where Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg had her personal training sessions, and the mock Supreme Court where advocates come to moot their cases (even the clock was the same!).

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Checking out the mock Supreme Court chambers at Georgetown.

We spent our final day in D.C. coming full circle, to think more about the role of the judiciary within a nation of laws. At the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the team from the Museum's Law, Justice, and the Holocaust Program conducted a workshop with us that they have run "at judicial conferences in over 40 states and five federal circuits." After a private tour of the collection we were shown documents and case studies from the Nazi era, and asked to consider some key moments that lay the legal foundations for the genocide to come. As the program notes, "Judges were among those inside Germany who might have changed the course of history by challenging the legitimacy of the Nazi regime and the hundreds of laws that restricted political freedoms and civil rights. And yet the overwhelming majority did not."

After such a heavy day, students had some time on their own to explore D.C. before meeting up again for a final reception, where we joined students from the Rockefeller Leadership Fellows program who were also in D.C. that week meeting with their project mentors. In this gathering with alumni/ae guests, including several judges, journalists, and policy leaders from the private, nonprofit and government sectors, students relaxed, socialized, and had fun. They even did a little networking: "I really enjoyed the networking event," said one student. "It was cool to meet so many Dartmouth alumni doing so many different things." It was a wonderful capstone to an eventful week.

We couldn't have asked for a better visit to D.C.!

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Hanging with the Rockefeller Leadership Fellows and alums at the networking event.