![handle is hein.journals/hlrec124 and id is 1 raw text is: THE RECORD
The Independent Weekly Newspaper at Harvard Law School
www.hlrecord.org Volume 124, No. 1 Thursday, January 18, 2007
BY ERIN ARCHERD
Harvard Law School alums and students
have once again earned more Skadden Fel-
lowships than those of any other law
school. The fellowships pay a one-year
salary of $46,000 and benefits, allowing
fellows to pursue public interest work in a
variety of fields.
Harvard has traditionally been quite
strong in the number of Skadden Fellow-
ships its students receive, and although this
year's numbers fell from nine to six, HLS
still topped the list. Three current 3Ls -
Sarah Bolling, Emily Kernan, and Spring
Miller - and three recent alums - Michael
Grinthal, Jesse Newmark, and Michael
Stein - have earned the prestigious public
interest fellowship, which is renewable for
a second year of funding.
Each of the three current students receiv-
ing a fellowship has a very different focus
for her project. Spring Miller will be pro-
moting the health and safety workplace
rights of migrant agricultural workers at
Southern Migrant Legal Services (SMLS)
in Nashville, Tennessee. Miller had done
immigrant rights work in Nashville prior to
coming to law school and met Jennifer
Rosenbaum '02, a former Skadden Fellow
at SMLS.
Most of the clients I will be representing
are limited English proficient, and most of
them don't get protection from state and
federal agencies that they are owed under
state and federal worker protection laws,
Miller said. I will both represent them in
individual cases, and advocate state and
federal agencies to do a better job of pro-
tecting them in their workplaces.
Emily Kernan will be representing foster
children with mental health problems in
New York City. Kernan's interest in the fos-
ter care system began at the age of seven,
when her family took in a five-year-old girl
named Kathy who had been physically and
sexually abused by her parents. Although
Kathy only lived with her family for three
months, the experience started Kernan's
lifelong passion for child development,
leading her to focus in the area while earn-
ing her degree in psychology. Here at HLS,
she is co-president of Child and Youth Ad-
vocates (CYA) and is active in the Child
Advocacy Program. She spent her 1lL sum-
mer at the National Center for Youth Law
and last summer at The Door's Legal Serv-
ices Center.
My project, the Mental Health Advo-
cacy Project at Lawyers For Children
(LFC), is designed to promote the rights of
children in foster care to gain timely, con-
sistent, and individualized mental health
services through direct representation, com-
munity and institutional education, and im-
pact litigation, said Kernan.
OPIA helped direct her to several organ-
izations doing good work in foster care.
Kernan approached LFC over the summer
to find out if there were any areas that
would benefit from a fellowship project and
the Executive Director and Deputy Execu-
tive Director immediately identified mental
health.
Harvard Tops Skadden
Fellowships Again.
3L 2007 Fellows
Eager to Begin
Brown and the Limits of Originalism
BY SARAH ISGUR
Can the Court's ruling in Brown v. Board
of Education be defended with an original
understanding of the Constitution? Last
Tuesday, students filled Pound 107 to hear
Professor Michael Klarman and Judge
Michael McConnell debate the question
while enjoying pizza provided by the Fed-
eralist Society.
Georgetown Professor Michael Seidman,
currently teaching Constitutional Theory
for the Winter Term, introduced the pan-
elists by noting how remarkable it was that
50 years later the question of Brown's con-
sistency with originalism is still up for
heated debate in academic circles. In fact,
this was not even the first time that Judge
McConnell and Professor Klarman had en-
gaged each other on the issue. Ten years
ago, both professors published dueling
pieces in the Virginia Law Review, which
each continued to defend.
Judge McConnell, currently teaching the
Winter course Creation of the Constitution,
defended Brown's consistency with an orig-
inalist's interpretation of the Constitution.
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge,
who also teaches at the University of Utah's
S.J. Quinney College of Law, began the dis-
cussion by asking what the Brown Court
would have found if it could set the clock
back to the year the Fourteenth Amendment
was adopted. In his opinion, one need only
look to the Republican-controlled Congress
and the legislative history of the 1875 Civil
Rights Act to find support for the proposi-
tion that a large majority in 1866 believed
that school segregation was unconstitu-
tional under the Fourteenth Amendment.
University of Virginia Professor Michael
Klarman argued against an originalist un-
derstanding of Brown. Professor Klarman,
currently co-teaching Constitutional Theory
with Seidman, is well known to Harvard
students for his popular Constitutional Law
and Constitutional History courses last year.
The professor began by acknowledging
that originalists can defend Brown in the-
ory; in practice, however, their defense is
not quite persuasive.
Perhaps most interestingly, Klarman
noted that opponents of the
Fourteenth Amendment ar-
gued that it would bar
school segregation to try to
prevent its adoption.
Many supporters, on the
other hand, disagreed, and
many Congresses contin-
ued to segregate the Dis-
trict of Columbia school
system up until the 1950s.
Even the Brown Court,
which had every incentive
to provide originalist sup-
port for their opinion,
failed to do so, perhaps be-
cause they did not believe
there was any. Klarman
ended by describing the Judge McConnell speaks at the Federalist Society panel.
paradox that Brown pres- Media credit: Dan Sullivan.
ents to originalists: They to see two of the nation's foremost constitu-
are sure that it was rightly decided, but are t olars present their contrasting
not prepared to license justices to write their tion sq
moral opinions into the Constitution.
Kevin Hinkley, a 2L, found the debate
fascinating, adding that it was an honor
r wate 2007
They said that in representing thousands fit both my interests and the needs of the
of children in foster care for the past 20 community that they feel they are not cur-
years, LFC has become acutely aware of rently able to meet.
the profound mental health needs of chil- All three had raves for OPIA's Judy Mur-
dren in foster care and of the foster care sys- ciano, whom they described as well-versed
tem's chronic failure to confront these in the process of applying for fellowships
needs appropriately, Kernan said. I was and extremely accessible.
very excited to draw on my background in Judy Murciano, the Fellowships Direc-
psychology and my understanding of the tor at OPIA, provided me with invaluable
foster care system and of the challenges advice and support throughout the applica-
confronting children in this system to de- tion process, beginning last spring, said
sign my fellowship project. Keran. I was constantly amazed both by
Sarah Bolling will work at the Atlanta her exhaustive knowledge of the fellowship
Legal Aid Society representing low-income application process and by her constant
homeowners in foreclosure litigation and willingness to help applicants every step of
arbitration. the way. I could not have done it without
I will be litigating over the predatory as- her.
pects of their home loans, which can in- Alexa [Shabecoff] sent me to Judy Mur-
volve failure to disclose the real interest ciano last spring, and Judy was truly, truly
rate, fraud and misrepresentation, excessive amazing from there on out, said Miller.
fees, flipping of a loan (which means refi- She helped me negotiate the whole appli-
nancing it over and over with no real bene- cation process. She is an incredible person;
fit to the borrower, sucking out the equity), she is knowledgeable and committed and
etc, said Bolling. The two lawyers cur- dedicates enormous amounts of time and
rently in the Home Defense Program at energy to supporting students. I can't say
Legal Aid do mostly negotiation (because enough about how much her guidance and
they are swamped with all of the people that support meant for me.
need assistance), so I will be adding litiga- Judy Murciano, the Fellowships Direc-
tion to the panoply of tools they use to help tor, is so extremely knowledgeable, com-
their clients. passionate, and dedicated, said Bolling.
Bolling started looking for an organiza- She answered all of my questions about
tion to work with by talking with many various fellowships, advised me on the
anti-predatory lawyers about whom they process, and supported me every step of the
would want to learn from if they were a way.
young lawyer just starting out.
I worked with the lawyers [at Atlanta
Legal Aid] to design my project in order toin o](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/hlrec124&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most