The Second Day in DC

4/30/2010

We were up and out early after being treated to an extensive breakfast buffet in our hotel. That morning, Mary, the Dean's wife saw a person from the Daily Show eating breakfast at the next table. She managed to get a picture of him while pretending to take a picture of the dining room. After our celebrity spotting was over, we formed up outside to take the metro to the Supreme Court. Dustin managed to find the way as that was one of his assignments before we left Culver-Stockton. So, Dustin, the Dean and I conferred on the route and we found this huge, white, shiny building just across the mall from the Capitol Building. That was the Supreme Court. Quite the beauty. We immediately lined up behind lots and lots of other people who were there trying to get into see the oral arguments in a pending case. There was so much confusion because the regular line up system was not being used the day were were there. So, none of the people lined up had any idea of what was going on or when we were going to be able to get into the building. Every time we inquired of the DC police we seemed to receive a different answer and none of the answers really gave us much useful information. We stood in the rain that came down off and on. Some of our students didn't have rain gear or umbrellas but managed to brave the elements without much comment. While we stood in line we were treated to two different protesters who were walking up and down on the public sidewalk carrying signs about different topics. One gray haired woman was sporting a lone sign that spoke to the death penalty and something else that we couldn't ascertain. Another gentleman showed up with several signs on a push cart that I for the life of me, couldn't figure out. From time to time the DC police would come down from the steps of the Supreme Court building and roust the guy with the push cart. He would then toddle on down the street only to wander back in front of the growing lined up crowd. We watched this scenario play out a few times until the guy disappeared around the corner. We stood for two hours until we saw a long line of people with orange tickets walk to the front of the building and go inside. Turns out that they were some special group that had a reserved tour set up by some Federal Marshalls. Go Figure. The Dean and I decided that we needed to abandon the plan of seeing the oral argument and just take the public tour of the Court. So, that is what we did. We went in through the public entrance, saw the exhibits, went to the gift shop and saw a film about the workings of the Supreme Court. After that we headed to Ford's Theater.




Posted at 5:47 PM by Judy Abbott