Law and Politics in US History

Law and Politics in US History

Humanities Course
Course Code	LAWP
Years of Operation	1996-2019
Sites Offered	CAR, CLN, JHU, LOS, LOU, SAR, STM, UNI

Course Description

Law and Politics is an intensive study of Constitutional Law in the US. Often, over forty cases are studied, and briefs are written on many of them. Notable cases include Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Education, Roe v. Wade, Garret F. v. Cedar Rapids Community School District, and Miranda v. Arizona, among others. Major course highlights have included a paper written in dispute of a Supreme Court judgment and/or on jurisprudence, a mock trial and a Declaration of Independence.

Class History

Siena

In 05.2 at a unknown site (Siena?), LAWP was taught by Dan Kirsch and TA'd by Rebecca Vernon. The students enrolled consisted of Caroline, Sterling, Chris, Emily, James, Liz, Max, Mike, Judy, Peter, Elise, Dan, John, Lindsay, in that seating order from the left to the right, east to the west.

In LOU.07.1., LAWP continued to be taught by Dan Kirsch and TA'd by Rebecca Vernon. The students enrolled were Georgia, Cody, Alicia, Ian, Zhenny, Dan (Nixon), Lucy, and Adam, in that order from left to right. The class name was The Justice League, as dubbed by Ian and as unanimously agreed upon. Students had their own individual superhero that belonged in the Justice League (besides Zhenny who insisted on being Catwoman). Also, Rebecca Vernon would post the scores of any baseball games going on during study hall which led to many off-topic discussions on baseball teams and whether (the Red Sox player) Coco Crisp was really a breakfast cereal.

In LOU.08.1, LAWP was taught by Thomas Adams and TA'd by Anabel Aponte. The class consisted of Shang, Conor, Russel, James, Lars, Louie, Liam, Claire, Eva, Emily W, Ally, Jenny, Sarah, Miriam, Maddie, Emily S, and Steph. They often barged into other classrooms during class and recited documents such as the Declaration of Independence and made a scene at dinner on the fourth of July by shouting "We don't want yo bloody tea" in British accents and stomping outside to pour their tea on the ground.

Los Angeles

In 2006, the class was known as the Legal Eagles. In 2007, Carolle wanted to call the class the Legal Beagles, but the class wanted to be called the Constutional Cows.

In LOS.07.1, LAWP was taught by Carolle Im and TA'd by Mari Crabtree. Carolle was known for wearing a different pair of shoes each day, given that she supposedly owned over 250. The Mock Trial was Ian Fectious v. Tagen Burger: Ian Fectious was a highschool student who claimed that he got sick from eating at Tagen Burger fast food chain. The Ethics class served as the Jury. Tagen Burger won the case, 15 to 0.

In LOS.08.1, Carolle Im returned with TA Katy Leenerts and was still known for her crazy shoes. This class could often be heard yelling "That's wassup!" at the top of their lungs whenever called upon, something created by a kid named Sol. The students enrolled were Kate, Christopher/Choi, Kevin/Chewy, Esther, Isabel, Minkee, Esmeralda, Margeaux, Sarah, Yu Jong, Simon/Sol, Elizabeth, Emily, Hannah, Michelle, and Becca. A very loud class, to tell the truth. The Mock Trial case was called New Jersey v. Avery Fisher. Avery Fisher was charged with aggravated and reckless manslaughter after her daughter Chris collapsed in the pool after a swim meet. The Ethics class served as jury, and found Avery Fisher not guilty on both charges. Carolle was also known-at least in her class-for making one student her "purse pet" and another her pet "F.O.B."

In LOS.08.2, LAWP was taught by Jason Saltmarsh with the same TA as the previous session, Katy Leenarts. The students enrolled were Ryan, Raymond, Morgot, Kristen, Adam, Eunice, Marina, Amanda, Emily, Sara, Hee, Laura, Joshua, and Alex. This was the class with the most Frisbee™ injuries (Ryan's fault, mostly). The case was the same, the jury was the same, and decision was the same (on the second charge, it was only overturned by two people). This class one took an hour arguing whether violence is the only way to overthrow a government (13-1 in favor of using violence) and wrote, "Promote civilization, use sterilization" on their poster for closing ceremonies. Jason was famous for taking an entire day to define fact, history, and law, and for making the class study Buck v. Bell, a case about sterilization laws where "Three generations of imbeciles are enough" (Chief Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes) decided the case.

In LOS.09.1, LAWP was taught by Carolle Im with the same TA as 08.1, Katy Leenerts. Carolle was of course known for her shoes and her many outfits. The class consisted of Angela Guo, Cindy Li, Sarah Wu, Marnie Lowe, Diana Lee, 4 Alexes (Kahn, Zhang, Chen, and Waxler), Taylor Liu, Lucy McCabe, Lizzy Hardwick, Emma Manning, Ariele Basich, and Jeff Xiao. This class was often called the LAWPsters, and even had T-shirt iron-ons, sort of. Many people got sick that year, and a hospital for LAWPsters was drawn on the board. As more people returned to class however, almost all LAWPsters were removed from the board, until only Alex Chen was left. This class also happened to be rather obsessed with a rather large amount of things, including a teddy bear named Mr. Shnuggles belonging to Jeff, John 5, and a good number of inside jokes.

LOS.11.2: The class (Ariel, Kevin, Ryan L, Cheryl, John, Ashley, Max, Hannah, Joe, Natalie, Ryan R, Christina, Arthur, David, and Marion) was taught by Mark Hohmann, with TA Kelly Chong. We took great pleasure in antagonizing Kelly (ESPECIALLY Ryan R.) but only because we loved her. We debated with International Politics on the death penalty and troops in Iraq, winning both. John and Christina (Mama and Papa Lawpsters) were the oldest in the class and debated constantly back and forth causing whiplash in the rest of the class. There was an abundance of Asian jokes and completely off-topic discussions. Best. Session. Ever.

Baltimore

In JHU.09.1, LAWP was taught by Mark Hohmann with TA Sarah Stanley. Students enrolled were Barton, Chris, Ron, Tony, Sam, Justin, Alex, Maddie, Fola, Kat, Chaeri, Katrina, Christine, Sue, and JiMin. This class was known for randomly bursting into "The Narwhal Song" (Usually lead by Barton, Ron and Tony). In addition, they were known for guiding in-class discussions wildly off-topic (A discussion about John Adams and Thomas Jefferson became a debate about the ethical and Constitutional aspects of abortion.) and bothering Sarah. Among the class, Sarah was known to have a "split personality" with the second personality named Rachel. This was brought about by Ron calling Sarah "Rachel" by accident in class one day.

In JHU 10.1, LAWP was taught by Mark Hohmann with TA Sara Weist. Students were Emily Dickson, Phoebe Edalatpour, Lauren Aboodi, Valerie Wilson, Varun, Jack Clare, and others. The class was really fun. There were a lot of debates and court cases to be reviewed! At the end of the session, the class watched the thriller 12 angry men and a lot of the Simpsons. LAWP 10.1 is infamous for producing the only two kids to be kicked out of JHU 10.1. Mark was known as the awesome teacher who took everyone to Starbucks instead of teaching on the last day. TA Sarah was known as Mama Sarah and eventually grew on the students despite her strict enforcement of study hall during the first week. Members of the class called themselves the Communist Whale Pod to counter PLME's nickname, the Wolf Pack.

In JHU.10.2, LAWP was taught by Mark Hohmann with TA Sara Weist. Students Enrolled were Adam, Rebecca, Eileen, Lamont, Gary, Ingrid, Sarah, Varun, Emily, Marina, John, Charles, Zach,and Kevin. Sara was an awesome TA and led an activity called "Fort Building" in which people brought sheets to make a gigantic fort multiplex condo :)The class joke was Sara's many made up words, such as segu away, chands, discush, and Canadia. The mock trial/senate session was The Clinton Impeachment, which had its share of chicken filibusters and arguments.

In JHU.11.1, LAWP was taught by Robert Gross with TA Matthew Broggini. Students Enrolled were Richard, Frank, Clare, Jasmine, Sammy, Jenny, Andrew, Betty, Jennifer, Ethan, Mike, Mohit, Kira, and Emily. This was the best class ever. :) We had three mock trials, and three debates, with many interruptions by off-topic questions, such as "Is there a fence between Canada and the US?" and "Can a policeman arrest himself?" at inappropriate times. This class took place in three different buildings and was quite interesting. There was also a joint collaboration with the Macroeconomics A class, in which there was a simulation of the Great Depression. Broggini was a great dancer, and so was Gross. Long live JHU.11.1.

In JHU.11.2, LAWP was taught by Kathryn Leenerts and the TA was Matthew Broggini (same as the previous session). The students were: Cindy Jiang, Amanda Sin, Chris Dozier, Danna Shen, Andrew Ciacci, Jamella Ludvig, Sam Huang, Austin Hong, Grace Lee, Wil Hendrixson, Tom Naatz, Henry Hobbs, Harold Choo, Srujana Sinha, and Naomi Shroff-Mehta. We had three debates. Each time, it was boys against girls (except when Andrew joined the girls for the 3rd debate). The boys won the second, and the girls won the other two. It was the best class ever. We were the first class Katy instructed in CTY. We had originally planned to do a class dance to SuperBass during the last dance, but since the song wasn't played, we decided to it during the last class session instead. Matthew was an amazing dancer (seriously, he was a BEAST) Katy was also jumping up and down and fist-pumping at the dances like crazy. Naomi had to leave half way through the session which was hard for everyone. We missed her like crazy. Especially Danna. We also wore black armbands one day in memory of Dobby. It was a great session! Seriously. It was.

In JHU 13.1, LAWP was taught by former TA Matthew Broggini and the TA was James. The class consisted of Lucy(who liked Jamisen. Pretty much everyone knew that), Jamisen/bunny rabbit, Michael/spongebob, Gokul, Katherine, Hadalee, Mena the cynical, Veda the innocent, Donavan, Alex, Min, Chris, Darren, Steven, and Ally. Possibly the most memorable event of the class was legally analyzing '99 Problems."

In JHU.13.2, LAWP was taught by Carolle Im and TA'd by Jessica Pagan. There were 14 students: Derek/Gustavo, Norman/DiAngelo, Peter, Daniel/Danny, Stefan, Sully, Robert, Henry/Polyester, Steven, Trevor, Maxwell/Max, Lizzie, Cammi, and Grace. There were two mock trial cases, one involving a neglectful mother whose 13 year-old son took her boyfriend's handgun and accidentally used it to shoot his 5 year-old step-brother, and the other involving a possible murder by the president of a co-ed college fraternity. Like LOS.7.1, Carolle was known for her many shoes, except by this time she supposedly owned over 600 pairs. She was also known for coming to class after lunch every day, clutching her stomach, and groaning "So full...". There were many class discussions, including illicit pornography, co-ed bathrooms, and dimebags. A class Constitution was drafted, but many of the rules were broken repeatedly. Members of the class often discovered large amounts of money around campus, including the Beach and the Laverty Lounge.

In JHU 16.1, LAWP was taught by CTY alumnus and former RA/TA Colin Reynolds and the TA was Erica Imbimbo. Students included Manny (Marco Rubio), Theo (Squidward), Auden (Ash Ketchum), Andreas (Nickname-Free), Simon (The Chipmunk), Felix (Kim Jong-Un), Zoe (Dairy Queen), Lauren (Buttercup), Benjamin (Kurt), Valerie (Nickname-Free), Ellen (Nickname-Free), Alison (Nickname-Free), Mina (Nickname-Free), Amalina (Nickname-Free) and Emily (Nickname-Free). There were many inside jokes, as demonstrated by the final activity (Exquisite Corpse). These included the "gynecologist" and Simon's home town of Wellsboro, and were almost completely unbeknownst to the instructional staff and Felix, who was moved to a different hall. There were no mock trials, but two debates: one on the ratification of the Constitution and another on state powers versus liberty to contract. A jurisprudence piece was written, and a critique on Supreme Court jurisdiction was written too. There was also a NATO simulation done in conjunction with International Politics. This was regarded as a favor to POLY by the LAWP students. Manny was known to be very radically Republican, and the class was prone to arguments. Class discussions were done, but it was really the break times when the most heated debates took place. The class was described to be "studious," but this was not really the case.

In JHU 17.2, LAWP was again taught by Carolle Im and TA'd by Corinne Gressang. Classes were in the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy. There was 15 students, only 4 of which were boys. Students were Nikhil (Niko), Justice, Charles, Julian, Claire, Reilly (sometimes known as Pail for reasons discussed later), Grace L., Grace A., Natalie, Jennifer (Jen), Emily, Veronica, Irene, Amy (aim-why), and Aimee (aim-eeeeeeeeee). The different pronunciations of Amy was established to distinguish them from each other, as it got very confusing. The Graces were referred to with their last names or their last initials.

Inside jokes in this class included the four corners, which stemmed from a discussion on the first day as to what birth state would be listed on the passport if a baby was born exactly on the four corners, and Aimee's hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado, referred to by Ms. Im and others as Beartown or Beertown, which was a play on Beartown and referenced the 20 breweries in Fort Collins, roughly 1 per 8,000 people. Occasionally (mostly by Julian), it was referred to as "Loco FoCo NoCo". (<- still don't know what that means) These were completely known to the instructors, and they even participated on occasion.

While playing Two Truths And A Lie on the first day, we learned Ms. Im had recently purged over 400 pairs of shoes, leaving around 350 by her estimate. Somebody also said they played the cello, to which somebody else responded, "You don't have cello hands (hehnds)." That became a running joke with us ("You don't play the violin, you don't have violin hands").

There was one debate and two mock trials. The debates were one-on-one and were about various constitutional topics. There was one civil case and one criminal case for the mock trial. The criminal case was a case of a co-ed fraternity president who was being charged with criminal hazing and first degree murder. I'm just saying, it was really hard to defend Chris Archer, because she was totally guilty. She was found guilty of both, with the successful prosecution consisting of Claire and Jen, and the defense being Justice and Charles. Justice and Charles ironically originally wanted a different case, as they felt this one would be too easy for them. They wanted a case involving a cop stabbed by a Swiss army knife. The civil case was a school being sued for negligence in the drug related death of a student. The school was sued successfully and had to pay all 5 million in damages. The plaintiff was Reilly and Emily, with the defense being Aimee and Julian.

Jen and Justice were the official class ship (#justifer5ever). There is even a goddamn K-drama called "Not Fake Love" about them. (And when Grace and Emily wanted scenes for the J-drama they would just randomly film me and Jen whenever we were together without us even noticing. It's a lot creepier than it sounds.) Ms. Im and Corinne knew way way way too much about the personal lives of everybody in the class.

In getting Jen and Justice together, Reilly began dating one of Justice's friends, commonly referred to as Shovel because Justin from Mario's hall thought he looked like a shovel for some reason. (His real name was Oliver, but we also called him Jacob because this kid looked exactly like Jacob Sartorius) (We also called forehand Frisbee throws "shovel" throws because Oliver would only throw forehand). This is why she was known as Pail (#pailandshovel6ever). We originally wanted to call them Shovel and Hoe, but apparently that was too CTYi.

This class commonly referred to themselves as Lawpsters, a name coined by Ms. Im because LAW and Politics shortens to LAWP, which sounds like lobster? Something like that. The girls even purchased a stuffed lawpster to mail to each other after CTY ended, and christened it John John John Marshall Marshall Marshall Harlan Harlan Thurgood Marshall (JJJMMMHHTM), aka Marshall, a reference to the many Supreme Court justices with similar names. They didn't ask the boys to join the mailing list because the girls are sexist. They also invented a college known as the Esteemed College of JJJMMMHHTM. The class also had lawpster t-shirts made with the lawpster drawn by Amy and the thought bubble with the four corners drawn by Aimee. We also used to play this hand slapping game until it became really violent and Corinne made us stop.

Justice would sleep in class sometimes. Once, in study hall, he was sleeping, and his roommate Charles came over with a pillow and was about to hit him when Jen made him stop. But no, it wasn't with righteous intentions. She made him stop so she could take out her phone and record it in slow motion. And now Jen has a video of Charles hitting me in the face with a pillow while I was sleeping. But it's alright really because if you watch the video you can clearly see that I don't give a fuck; I just look up for a second, and then go back to sleep.

Also the girls sent lobster hentai on their group chat. Pervs.