Getting Started

February 21, 2022

This past week has been super busy, not just with ISM but with my other responsibilities as well. Despite these challenges, I have made significant progress on my original work. I spent last week working on finding a suitable case for my original work and getting started on the case I selected. Although I had preferred using a real-world case, I ended up creating a list of mock trial cases to share with my mentors instead. I found it difficult to find real-world cases that would be simple enough for me to attempt while still pushing my limits.

My search yielded me with four cases that I was interested in discussing during my mentor meeting. The first dealt with a plaintiff who believed they were wrongfully denied a job position because of their disability. This case would have been inline with the work my mentors do, so I figured this was a great potential case for my own original work. In fact, during our meeting, my mentors mentioned that they had worked on a very similar case in the past. The second case involved protesters that were arrested when police feared violence during the rally. This case would have been a good choice because it has become increasingly more relevant in today’s world. Another case I found interesting was about a high school student whose backpack was searched by a teacher. This case focused on how protections from unlawful searches and seizures applied to students in schools. The case I ultimately chose to use for my original work involved first amendment rights to freedom of speech. This case followed a high school student who wore a graphic anti-abortion pin to school. The school’s administration told the student to remove the pin because it was causing a disruption in school.

I have already begun researching and preparing for this case. I read through some of the case already, including some of the witness statements. In addition, my mentors sent me a copy of Mr.Baruch’s speech on the freedom of speech in schools. After reading his speech, I have a much better understanding of the main precedents in this topic and where the court typically rules when it comes to what sort of speech schools can restrict. I am looking forward to figuring out how I will argue the plaintiff’s side of the case. Schools have fairly broad discretion to limit student speech when it causes real disruptions in school, something that seems easy to prove based on the witness statements I have read. My goal for this week is to reread the statements in more detail and find precedents that support the plaintiff’s argument that the student’s speech was wrongfully restricted.