A full day of classes

After a very short night's sleep, I gathered myself together for my first day of classes. I made it out the door in plenty of time and was downtown with 1/2 an hour to spare. I was surprised to find that there were lots of students already waiting for classes to start, and I decided to get to my future classes early enough to get a good seat. The first class of the day was Constitutional Process. The Professor was a congenial sort who lectured like a history professor. I like the method of question and answer, but from the first day, the "gunners" were identified (i.e., those individuals who are trying desperately to draw attention to themselves). I am all for participation in classroom discussion if one's comments moves the discussion forward, but when you ask a question that is, at best, tangential to the matter at hand, the entire class suffers all for the sake of your ego. My patience was low for these individuals, and I was happy to find out after the class that others felt the same way. The class itself was interesting. The discussion on Marbury v Madison showed me the dangers of jumping the gun in surmising why the judge found what he found. I wrote in yesterday's entry that Chief Justice Marshall fulfilled the duties of his office in opposition to his own political affiliations. Boy was I wrong. Even though Marshall supported his rival Jefferson, he was able to censure Jefferson within the first section of the decision, writing that Marbury legally has a right to his commission as a justice of the peace. The real meat of the decision lay with the court's ability to be a check on the powers of the legislative and executive branches of government. If the legislative branch makes the laws and the executive branch puts the law into action, the role of the judicial branch is to review the law to make sure that it falls within what is allowed within the constitution. Judicial review and the ability of the court to decide if the laws are constitutional are the two most important things to come out of Marbury v Madison. This is something to think about!

After class, I decided to go and get my U-Pass. The U-Pass is a transit pass that allows students to take unlimited rides on Chicago mass transit during the school year. When you consider that a one-way ride on Chicago mass transit costs $1.75, and when you consider that I will be taking it at least twice a day, the utility of such a pass becomes readily apparent. The lines were long, but I still had time to grab lunch before heading to Civil Procedure

Civil Procedure was also interesting. The gunners were quickly ignored by the professor, and the professor was able to engage the students quite well. Civil Procedure covers the rules of how civil courts function. Yes, there is a guidebook that describes everything you need to know about civil procedure, but it is, in fact, more interesting than you might think. When you are watching courtroom dramas and you see, for example, one party destroying evidence during discovery, they are breaking the law as described in Civil Procedure. There are no statutes against it, but the procedural laws are being broken. Civil Procedure lasted for another 1 hour and 10 minutes. I am pretty happy that I have not noticed the time going by when I am in class. The professors are great, and I have no complaints. So far, law school is everything that I thought it would be.

After class, I made a beeline for the El to get to my old apartment. I wanted to finish cleaning it out so that I could give up the keys and be done with it. I had a moment of sadness when I left it, though. I liked my studio, it was cozy and it was home. I have no doubt that, with time, my new digs will also feel like home, but I am not there yet. As soon as I came home, I fixed dinner and helped Eric take some of the trash out. Slowly, the place is coming into focus. For the last 3 hours, I have been doing my assigned reading for Torts and Contracts for tomorrow. Another full day awaits me!