Thursday, July 16, 2015

Jarheaded Debating

I started my day extremely exhausted, drained, and disoriented with reality. Last night's homework proved too much for me and it showed. Going to sleep at 4 AM and entering the unforgiving world again at 7 AM can really take a toll on somebody. 

In class, Michelle broke the class up into groups with each group asked to present about any of the six cases from the assigned reading the night prior. All six cases had some sort of connotation with the 4th Amendment's search and seizure clause and had their own little twist to their background stories. My group went over each case, sharing the facts, looking at each legal issue, and analyzing each holding carefully. Once it was our time to present, Michelle hit us with the case Arizona v. Hicks. In this case, the respondent's (Hicks) house was searched after a bullet was fired from is apartment and resulted in injuring another man. In the search police recovered several firearms and a stocking mask. One police officer came across a rather expensive set of stereo equipment that looked out of place in Hick's squalid apartment. The officer recorded the stereo's serial number and set it to headquarters to see if his suspicions were correct. The stereos were stolen in an armed robbery and as a result, the officer seized the radio system. The Supreme Court ruled that the officer's search and seizure of the stereo system did violate the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments under the reasoning based off Coolidge v. New Hampshire

In the afternoon session of class, we did a substantial amount of debate prep for Friday's second and last debate of the course. The case my group was assigned was a case called John Rogers v. United States. Just like the cases before, this case was fake but interesting. The petitioner, John Rogers, was arrested after being spotted with wanted drug lord and child hood friend, Al Chapo. He was spotted by authorities in his glass made home by a new system by Google called, ''GoogleTelescope". Luckily, we got the task of representing the United States in this case as representing John Rogers would be impossible since Rogers actions are not justifiable at all.

After class ended, I got a haircut at a local Russian barbershop down Broadway. I got what I usually get: a military fade cut with a one on the sides. The barber actually did a better job than I anticipated as the sides were surprisingly cut sharp and even. 

Only two more days left before I'm back in the comfort of my own home. The end of the road is coming close, meaning that it's time to work harder than I usually do. It was during every football practice that the coaches would punish us whenever we never gave 110% in terms of effort. They told us that once we'd start to let ourselves down now, we'd let ourselves down for the rest of our lives. In this case, that applies. If I decide to slack off, I not only let myself down but also my cohort, our sponsors, and my family. You know I can't do that.

No comments:

Post a Comment