interest through constitutional law which she became familiar with through both the political science department and her involvement in moot court; it is also what led her to Ginsberg as well as the myriad of cases she is familiar with at the top of her head. In short, Deng is a living, breathing hyperlink. As a senior in high school, Deng perused the political science program and law society at CSULB. Seeing that the law society was recruiting for its moot court—a student group who take on mock roles as litigators facing real issues, problems and cases—Deng decided to contact the professor in charge. Moot court travels across the country, debates in front of a group of nine mock supreme court justices to argue various cases—both on the side of the state as well as the side of the people. While in high school, Deng became part of the team in May 2018 and this is how her interest in the judiciary branch blossomed. In the podcast recording room of 22 West’s radio station, Deng and Hure go back-to-back in their shared knowledge about the Supreme Court system and enter a rabbit hole of hyperlinks themselves: from stare decisis and the Slaughter-House Cases to the discourse of non-partisan alignments Supreme Court justices are supposed to uphold.
“And she graduates top of her class [...] with a baby and sick husband. She can do it all.” On the discussion of court legitimacy, the protests currently taking place in Hong Kong are brought up and Deng goes off on China’s judiciary system, which essentially does not exist in terms of legitimacy and power. “The court needs to be legit or people don’t believe them,” Deng said. “People don’t care about the law in certain places and it’s almost an anomaly that we care so much about what the Supreme Court says.” As social and political issues are igniting all over the world today, this holds especially true. Specifically in the United States where the public is losing faith in institutions such as voting and politics in general, it is vital that the government retains legitimacy lest it loses the enthusiasm of young Americans such as Deng who are eager to leave a positive impact on this country.
Dominic Hure and Jireh Deng during the podcast (left) and interview (right)
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