Irech M. Colon/ Staff Writer
irech.colon@fiusm.com
To be judged guilty or not guilty is an interpretation solely based on the perspectives of each American in the legal world that has fluctuated throughout the years.
FIU’s chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies has made it their goal to promote debates among students that hold relevance to current events.
An upcoming lecture the FSOC will be holding along with the Catholic Law Students Association entails an overall review on the concept of original sin and the interpretation of the Constitution by Roger Newman, author of the Scribes Book Award winning and Pulitzer Prize finalist biography of Hugo Black.
With the lecture, the FSOC hopes to share a unique, religion-based perspective when interpreting the constitution.
“We get our sense of what’s wrong from religion,” Newman said.
Hannah Nowalk, vice president of the FSOC and second-year law student, holds a strong passion for constitutional law and expects to gain much knowledge from Newman’s lecture. As the president of the Catholic Law Students Association, Nowalk finds Newman’s viewpoint on original sin in the framing of the Constitution unexpected and ironic.
“It is crazy to consider that, although we want to separate the church from the state we have also constructed our legal system around morals and ethics that came from the church,” Nowalk said.
In his lecture, Newman plans to talk about two problems regarding the interpretation of the constitution, the involvement of people and the change in language from past to present.
“Then you have the other problem… we don’t even know what words mean from today to tomorrow,” Newman said.
Jonathan Davis, a third-year law student and president of the FSOC, believes the battle around change starts in courts. However, like Nowalk, he emphasizes the interpretation being a theoretical approach unique to each individual’s beliefs.
“It’s not a perfect institution,” Davis said. “It’s hard for anybody to tell anybody that their way is the right way or the wrong way, and when Newman comes down, he’s going to be presenting just one of the ways.”
Many rulings in past court cases have been overturned or changed – a result of how each individual interprets legal scenarios professionally or personally.
Nowalk said it is interesting how personal ethics can conflict with legal expectations.
“You can’t talk somebody into liking a glass of beer,” Newman said. “Some things just are.”
Newman’s lecture will touch upon the influence of politics in both the legal movement and the courts. As Newman puts it, the difference between the past and future is money.
For example, how campaign money and politics play a role in deciding the future of government and the Supreme Court.
What’s made it so different is that money attracts. You can say it corrupts some people in every way,” Newman said.
The FSOC is a group of conservatives and libertarians within the College of Law who focus on current events in the legal world, promoting the preservation of freedom and the significance of separation of powers in government.
FIU’s chapter only makes up one of many nationally. Every chapter brings in a different speaker, typically from a conservative or libertarian side of the political spectrum.
“We don’t embrace any particular viewpoint,” Davis said.
However, The Federalist Society began in the 1980s with two individuals who felt that the liberal point of view was present in many law schools while the conservative and libertarian points of view were not.
The FSOC encourages students to attend the lecture March 6 at 12:30 p.m. in the Rafael Diaz-Balart Building Room 1000, because, as they put it, it opens their eyes to an interpretation not traditionally seen in a legal setting.
“We like to try to just bring in different viewpoints on subjects that are not taught in the law school curriculum,” Davis said. “They can get exposure in areas they won’t see in their everyday class.”
Anyone can join FSOC. Although it is directed towards law students, Davis said they are currently looking for an undergraduate representative that can take the lead in promoting events at the undergraduate level.
Newman encourages students to attend because he said they are part of the people and all under the Supreme Court. He reiterates the importance of public affairs and our voice as a democracy, including student participation in voting.
“Unless people know what they’re talking about, they shouldn’t be allowed to talk,” Newman said.
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