"Necessary and Proper"

The first week of teaching went really well. The kids are exceptionally smart (which I already had a feeling they would be) and very engaged (which I was not expecting). Keeping up their level of engagement will be tough, because I can already tell they get bored easily (which fits with their being smart kids).

On the very first day, when I had them talking about contract consideration and Hamer v. Sidway, they had a hard time reconciling the idea that there was no necessarily right answer to the question as to where the line should be drawn for "enough consideration." I started with consideration and contracts because it's an issue that none of them would have had any preconceived notions about. When we move on to more contentious topics, I want them already understanding that they can make arguments for both sides without compromising their values.

By the second day, when I was explaining how I had taken points off of a lot of their homework because they failed to explain WHY they had made any decisions, they started to get it.

On Thursday, just for fun I threw up a question of the day that mirrored the facts in McCulloch v. Maryland, the landmark 1800's case that gave the government wide power to do what it wanted after the Supreme Court justified the establishment of the Bank of the United States using the necessary and proper clause of the Constitution. I had made them read the first three articles of the Constitution for homework.

"So," I said, "is there anywhere in the Constitution that gives the power to Congress to establish a national bank?"

A girl raised her hand.

"It isn't directly in there but they have the necessary and proper clause."

At which point I should have just ended class. To be fair, it was just one student and no one else came up with the exact idea on which the Supreme Court relied, but clearly I need to find more challenging materials for these kids.

Thursday night I went to a retirement party for someone at Street Law. I didn't know the retiree very well, but it turns out the party was at the house of one of the original founders of the Street Law clinic at Georgetown. We talked for a while and then he leaned over and said "so I hear from Lee that you're good with technology." Then I fixed two TVs in his house. I figure it's the least I could do for someone who indirectly gave me a job over the summer and a clinic to work on all year.