4.20.2010

First One(s) at One First

Only in hindsight am I beginning to realize the absolute craziness of the past two days I partook in, so I'm hopping on the blogging bandwagon and thought I'd fill you all in. It began in a little class called Constitutional Law. For our class project our professor thought she'd try something new and have a role play/simulation of a case that was to be brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in April. The case was Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. Although for the last month or so, my head has been swimming with the details of the case, I'll do my best to give you a brief synopsis.



At Hastings College of Law at the University of California in San Fransisco, there is a non-discrimination policy in place that says that all registered student groups must abide by an "All-Comers Policy." This means that campus groups can't discriminate against anyone who wants to join their club on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Sounds simple enough, right? Except that the Hastings' chapter of the national organization, Christian Legal Society states in their bylaws that members that don't abide by their Statement of Faith are not eligible to become voting members, lead Bible studies, etc. As part of this, CLS has said this includes students who engage in extramarital sexual activity (including homosexual conduct). In response, Hastings has denied the group club recognition status, access to meeting places on campus and funding, among other things, stating that CLS is in violation of the college's non-discrimination policy on the basis that it discriminates against LGBT students. Thus, CLS sued saying that Hastings is violating the group's first amendment rights of expressive association and free speech and that the group is not discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, but those students whose beliefs are not aligned with the group at large (i.e. sexual conduct).

Long story short- the case is incredibly interesting and when decided will have a huge impact on places of public education across the country. To end our simulation, we came up with the plan to drive the two and a half hour drive down to Washington D.C. to wait it out in front of the U.S. Supreme Court for a coveted ticket in to hear the case be argued.

We departed some time between 8:30-9:00 AM on Sunday to arrive at the Court around noon. A court police officer showed us where to settle for our 22+ hour wait and our group of 10 or so was delighted to find we were the first to arrive. We promptly settled in with our lawn chairs, sleeping bags and loads of homemade goodies. A large group of students left shortly thereafter to explore Union Station and the Capitol building and I attempted (and failed) to get some reading done for a presentation I had to do on Tuesday in my Latin American Politics class. The students returned to our stake-out a little after 1:00 PM and not long after, my friend who lives in D.C. showed up for a long overdue reunion. The last time I saw him was while he came home with Frankie and a few others from his platoon while on leave for Thanksgiving my freshman year. It was the first time we met and we've continued to keep in touch over the past four-ish years whether he was stateside or in Afghanistan. He took me out for lunch at a local pub and we had a great time discussing my two favorite things: politics and music. Who knew that there was someone else in this world that shared my belief that The Beatles are overrated?!

He walked me back to my group and we spent another hour or so catching up before he politely excused himself so I could once again attempt and fail to get any work done. The rest of my time with the group was spent playing rounds of Taboo and Mafia with my classmates and partaking in some excellent bonding time. As the night began to set in I realized my extra pair of socks, sweatpants and winter coat may not be enough to shield me from the below 40 degree weather we were about to experience. Sometime around midnight a couple Georgetown students who were members of their school's chapter of CLS and behind us in line divulged that they were headed to their dorm building to use the bathroom and invited anyone in our group to accompany them. My fellow classmate Tim, and I decided to accept their invitation and I wound up spending the 20-30 round-trip walk discussing the case with a third year Georgetown student named Clifton. He was incredibly knowledgeable and I almost felt bad for him as I peppered him with questions concerning his position and hypotheticals. Upon our departure I was on the fence but leaning more toward Hastings and by the time he was done with me I was much more open to and supportive of CLS' stance.

The majority of my fellow students retired to their sleeping bags soon after I returned while I contemplated what I would do for the next several hours since I already had the unfortunate premonition that I would not be sleeping that night due to the cold. Around 1:20 AM, what we thought was an unpredictable rain storm began to come down on us and it took about a minute while we rushed around gathering our things, for us to realize that there's a reason the Court's landscaping looks so perfectly groomed- sprinklers. Settling down on a new patch of grass it wasn't yet 20 minutes later when the sprinklers on the opposite side of the sidewalk went off, making us doubly wet and chilly. After the not-so-happy campers I was with settled in for a third time, I did my best to combat the bone-chilling night by a second, extended trip to Union Station to soak up the heat, multiple laps around the Supreme Court and a 5:00 am trip to "Pete's Diner" with another student to scarf down some hot, greasy diner food.

Around 6:00 AM, we had packed up all our "camp supplies" in time for another Poli Sci professor to swing by and pick them up. It was a mad dash to get all our things in his sedan in under a minute since the street was a No Parking zone, subject to a $250 fine. At 7:00 AM, the Court officer commanded us to form a single file line up the steps of the plaza where we would remain in the blistering cold for another two-ish hours while we awaited our entry into the Court. Following security, and the storing away of our belongings in the public lockers we made our way to the General Admission line to hear the oral arguments for the case we had so long been preparing for. As this has continued on for long enough already (and truthfully, the exhaustion from my all-nighter has caused me to forget most of what we heard), two of the fun surprises for me were the opportunity to chat with the Georgetown student from the night before as we were seated next to each other and the Principal Deputy Solicitor General under President Obama, Neal Katyal who was in the starring role of a book entitled "The Challenge" concerning the Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that was required reading for our class, was one of the attorneys for the case that was heard after the CLS case.

All-in-all, the experience made for a great story and to be inside the Supreme Court and witnessing the discussion between nine of our nation's most powerful and prestigious political actors left me completely awestruck. I haven't yet decided if I'd be willing to do it again, but for a one-time experience it was definitely worth it! Oh, and before I retire let me just say- I'd encourage you all to ask me questions about the case, since I am by now, an expert.

4.12.2010

How Beautiful is our God

Well, it's about time I get back to this whole blogging thing and if any time was an appropriate time to update you all, now would be it!

For the past three years I've taken part in my Campus' Chapter of an organization called International Justice Mission and this year I've taken the lead as President of the group. It's been a tough lesson in just how difficult it can be to be in a position of leadership and get people motivated to work for change, but all-in-all it's an opportunity that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. This year, my roommate Laura (my co-leader) and I decided we wanted to make it to IJM's Annual Global Prayer Gathering for the first time for our group. So after a LOT of planning and last-minute disruptions we led a group of 9 students down to Washington DC for a weekend of learning about IJM's current operations, as well as much worship and a LOT of prayer. It was easily one of the best experiences I've ever had.

The first 5 of us arrived to DC in time to make it to the Student Gathering during which campus chapters and high school youth groups from as far as Washington state, California and British Columbia shared what their groups had been doing to support the mission of IJM and encourage each other in prayer. The night continued on with a dinner reception and banquet during which we got to speak with some truly incredible people including IJM's founder Gary Haugen, himself. I was so 'starstruck' being able to speak with him that all I could do was mutter about how amazing he was. He is such a humble and down-to-earth man, and we all commented afterward on how he has the rare ability to make you feel like you're the most important person in the room when he's talking to you.


Following the dinner, we listened as IJM's Vice President of Justice Operations Sharon Cohn Wu helped to prepare our hearts for the remainder of the conference and Christian artist Lamont Hiebert and his band Ten Shekel Shirt led the group in worship. When all the festivities had drawn to a close our group of Eastern students met together to debrief what we had experienced and share some insights with each other. It was a time of great Christian fellowship and I think we all walked away feeling more enlightened and on fire for the Lord.


The following morning, we arose early to gather together for worship, reflection and prayer. After which, we went our separate ways to pray for specific IJM global operations. I attended the prayer gatherings for IJM Rwanda and IJM Uganda (of course). It made me truly miss my African home, but more importantly it provided me an amazing opportunity to pray for the casework in these countries. While there are many cases of child sexual violence and police brutality, the work in both these countries deals primarily with illegal property seizure (when a husband dies, often his family or strangers will kick the widow and her children off her own land leaving her completely destitute with no way to provide for herself and her family). IJM has performed miraculous feats during their time there, but they have so much further to go.

First, they encouraged us to pray for the continued courage of clients to not only recognize when their rights are being violated and exploited, but to take a stand, and with the help of IJM, seek justice against their perpetrators. Perhaps the biggest obstacles standing in the way of IJM's lawyers and investigators are the governments of countries such as Rwanda and Uganda. Not only can the government at times be very corrupt, but they very often lack any system for organizing legal documents. The head of the IJM Uganda team informed us that over 1/3 of legal files are lost. Continued prayers are needed for the cooperation of governments. For without them, IJM cannot continue to do its work.

The weekend gave me incredible insight into the character of God, the power of hope and prayer, and my own potential as a servant of Christ; which is ultimately why I wanted to share this blog with you all today.

During Saturday morning worship and prayer the Holy Spirit moved me to begin really considering the stories of men like Moses and the disciple Peter. I am so thankful that the Bible provides us with illustrations of completely flawed and imperfect men rising up to transform lives, and history. For even Moses killed a man, and repeatedly doubted God's calling to end the enslavement of his people and lead them to freedom from their oppressors. Then, there's Peter. Perhaps the most-well known disciple, infamous for denying his Lord, went on to become the cornerstone of the Church and was crucified for his beliefs. All I can think when reflecting on Peter's journey is how thankful I am that he DID deny Christ. It provides us with a deeper insight into Peter's humanity and provides us with the encouragement that although in our sinful human nature we may doubt and deny our Savior, we are still capable of rising up to become the light in the darkness.

One of the several speakers on Saturday morning also brought up the character of Jesus Christ on Palm Sunday. Our Sunday School perception of this event provides us with the understanding that Jesus rode through the streets atop a donkey while his followers worshiped him. We rarely address what Jesus was doing amidst all this chaos. He wept. He gazed into the crowd and saw the brokenness of the people around him and he wept. Jesus sees our hurt, our pain and our brokenness and he desires that we be released from it and truly experience love. The love of God, the love of ourselves and the love of others. As Jesus has rescued us, we have the ability to rescue our brothers and sisters from their oppressed and impoverished circumstances. If we are to truly embody the model Christ set for us, seeing their hurt and their brokenness should call us to weep on their behalf, but to further do something to end that pain.

The story of David and Goliath was also used. A story was told by aftercare workers in Cambodia who work with 9, 10, 11 year old Cambodian girls who have been sold into brothels and have been severely sexually abused. Let me repeat that- NINE YEAR OLD GIRLS. Tears welled up in my eyes and my heart broke as I heard more about how these beautiful children had their innocence completely robbed of them. The aftercare workers shared with us what they told the girls to encourage them to stand up against their abusers in trial. They shared the story of David and Goliath. While Goliath far surpassed David in almost every way, David had one thing that Goliath did not. A rock. In light of David's story, the aftercare workers provided the girls with a rock to hold while they sat and testified against their perpetrators. On this rock was written the word, "Truth." This made me think- no, we are not sexually abused Cambodian girls, but we are weak and broken people. We are attempting to face head-on the Goliath of social injustice and in every way it appears that we are going to be beaten. But we have a secret weapon- the Truth. With the power of the Almighty on our side, we will not be beaten. Along these same lines, another speaker shared with us Psalm 124- "If the Lord had not been on our side- let Israel say- if the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would've swallowed us alive."

I suppose it's about time that I wrap up this post as it's already gone on long enough. But I genuinely wanted to share with you just a taste of the hope and encouragement I experienced at the Global Prayer Gathering this weekend and I hope you leave feeling that same hope and faith in the power of God. I would also ask that even if you are not familiar with IJM's work, you would continue to keep them in your prayers as IJM investigators are literally risking their lives to ensure the justice of their clients. If you're interested in supporting and learning more about their mission visit their website at IJM.org
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