63 minute read
Senior assassin
Ryan Rodack ’22
Senior assassin: a staple among graduating classes at many high schools across the United States. A group of 54 Sixth Formers signed up to partake in the game’s Haverford School 2022 edition, which commenced the last week of April.
Advertisement
Students are assigned a target that they must “kill” by squirting them with a toy water gun. To eliminate their target, a student must shoot him while he is not touching his safety item. Safety items change from round to round. Ranging from framed portraits of Upper School Dean of Students Mr. Luqman Kolade, a 15-pound dumbbell, and two twelve-packs of Coca-Cola, students can be seen attached to their safety items throughout Wilson Hall.
Sixth Former Colin Stewart and Fifth Former Colin Kelly took on the challenge of organizing the game.
“I thought it would be fun to be the center of controversy if something happened,” Stewart said. “But, I also enjoyed making the rules, making the game difficult, and making the safety item a fun thing while making it challenging for everyone.”
“Originally, I signed up to be the person that decided everybody’s targets,” Kelly said. “Colin Stewart organized the event, but he was also in the game, so he could not be the one deciding everyone’s targets.”
Kelly formatted the game to make it more personable and exciting for everyone involved.
“I assigned targets so that people would get other people who were their friends, so this often resulted in best friends getting each other,” Kelly said.
The first round was filled with many exciting eliminations filled with strategic planning.
“I told my target, who just so happened to be one of my close friends, that he left some clothes at my house,” Sixth Former Nick Pante said. “I drove over to his house to drop off the clothes, and when he came outside without his item, I immediately ran out of the car and shot him.”
Stewart had a similar encounter.
“I was out with my friends a few weeks ago, and my target, Aidan Boyle, happened to be there. I had my safety item with me, but my water gun was in the car, so I had to run out to get my water gun and then I got Aidan Boyle out,” Stewart said.
While many students enjoyed that the targets were fixed so that people were paired with their friends, others were not fond of this tweak.
“I didn’t think the rules for the first round were laid out that well. I heard the targets were not randomized, which I didn’t like,” Sixth Former Sam Tryon said.
Tryon is not the only Sixth Former who was unhappy with the game setup.
“A lot of seniors come up to me, unhappy with the rules or how things turned out, or just people complaining about the game and being frustrated, but I don’t get offended,” Kelly said.
Tryon eventually got out of the game because of the 5-7 day time frame to eliminate one’s target.
“I was pressed for time and lost motivation pretty quickly. Nobody got me out, and I didn’t get anybody else out; I just got eliminated because I didn’t get my target out before the deadline,” Tryon said.
At this point in the game, only a few students remain. All of the remaining students are fully committed to the game.
“I’ve spent too much time on this game, so my attitude is winning or just not playing,” Sixth Former Former John Zhang said. “People have helped me kill other people in the game, so I feel like I’m obligated to continue to hold these dumb items and win the entire game.”
Austin Zhuang ’22 carrying 12-packs of Coca-Cola as his safety item
JINGYUAN CHEN ’23
Theater III* students write original comedy-murdermystery play
Owen Yu ’23
Second String, last year’s Theater III* production, pioneered the beginning of student-written plays for the Theater III* class. Following its success, the current Theater III* students look to write their own unique and ambitious show: a comedy murder mystery.
The show, with the tentative title of On Board, revolves around a CEO’s yacht party and the eventual disappearance of one of the party attendees. Along with the intriguing plot, the cast of characters holds some of the show’s most entertaining aspects.
“There are some detectives that come in that have their own ‘personal issues,’ and we also have a son who has an IQ of negative five,” Fifth Former Jaiden Shuchman said. “We’ve got a great group of characters that I think people would enjoy.”
In addition to developing the characters, the class has also been working on finetuning scenes on stage.
“We’ve also been blocking some scenes. We’ve been putting them on stage and seeing what happens,” Shuchman said. “It’s pleasing to see, and it also gives us good workshopping advice. It’s like reading your own paper out loud—you see the issues with it, you see the fallacies with it—and I think that doing this has been a good experience for workshopping our own writing and also working on collaborative writing.
Through this process, the class can identify what needs to be added, replaced, and removed from the script. When brainstorming scenes, the class has adopted a unique system that stays true to the lightheartedness of the script.
“Usually we have groups go off and write their own scenes,” said Fifth Former Colin Kelly. “I think it’s great because we get all these ideas, and once we come together and revise the ideas, we usually just end up laughing most of the time because of how great and funny the scenes are.”
As the Theater III* students continue writing the show, they acknowledge that they have encountered certain difficulties throughout the writing process.
“Unfortunately, the schedule with the quarter system has really limited our time working on this project, so we haven’t been able to get as much done as we would’ve liked to,” said Kelly.
With a large class and an ambitious idea, a lot of time is needed to develop the intricacies and details within the play. But with a limited time frame due to seniors’ early departure, the class is finding difficulty fully fleshing out the plot.
“Because the seniors leave on May 20th, our time is pretty limited,” Kelly said. “And because we have such a big class of sixteen people, we have to have a really big cast in the show, which means that there are a lot of parts to write, a lot of characters to consider, and a lot of plot points to get done.”
Furthermore, a significant portion of the class has limited experience with writing a show, which leads to certain aspects of the production being overlooked.
“I feel like the hardest part is that most of us haven’t written a show before, and I feel like we spent too much time setting up the plot, setting up the characters, and revising everything multiple times,” Shuchman said. “Especially in a limited time frame such as this—we weren’t aware of the issues [revising the script multiple times] would cause until pretty recently.”
Although the production doesn’t have a finalized performance date yet, the class is working diligently to ensure the show is at the highest quality it can be. In the end, the goal is to produce a show that both the class and audience can enjoy.
“Whether or not we perform an awardwinning show has nothing to do with how much fun we have doing it,” Kelly said. “We’re trying to make something that’s entertaining, coherent, and fun for everyone to watch.”
JAIDEN SHUCHMAN ’23
JOEY KAUFFMAN ’23
Ian Rush ’22 and Thomas Pendergast ’23 practicing for the play
COLIN KELLY ’23
The Cavalry goes to Worlds
Owen Yu ’23
By the end of March of 2022, the Haverford robotics team, The Cavalry, had already enjoyed an incredible season, earning themselves multiple high finishes in a variety of tournaments.
Following this success, team members packed the robotics room throughout the entirety of April to prepare for the final competition of the season: Worlds.
From May 5-7, the team competed in the Vex Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas.
The tournament brought over 800 teams from 36 different countries to compete in the VRC High School division. With five qualified Haverford teams—169A, 169E, 169R, 169Y, and 169Z—The Cavalry looked to test their skills against the world’s best.
“Worlds is always very challenging both mentally and physically. We’re up late every day trying to get these robots ready and trying to get everything working for the competition,” Sixth Form 169A team member Elijah Lee said. “Still, Worlds is always a really fun experience, and there’s always a collaborative team aspect that’s there because we’re all together working so hard, so that’s fun as well.”
Compared to the season’s other competitions, Worlds has an entirely different atmosphere simply because of the large number of participants. Robotics Coach Mr. Will Leech acknowledged the difference in the size of Worlds compared to local tournaments.
“The biggest tournament that we would attend in the regular season would contain, at most, locally, maybe eighty robots,” Mr. Leech said. “There were ten times that at Worlds.”
In addition to the size of the competition, teams’ mastery and understanding of the game are significantly higher at Worlds.
“At the World Championships, it’s that 0.1% that makes the difference,” Mr. Leech said. “When you get to Worlds, everybody knows exactly the tactics to be the running for the game. You know how to defend yourself, you know what’s important in terms of scoring points.”
Knowing the competition they were up against, the team immediately set to work once they arrived in Dallas.
“We flew in on Tuesday, got everything shipped over and set up, and rented out a conference room to give us a working space,” Lee said. “Wednesday was a full work day—kind of getting everything working and ready and making sure nothing broke in transit. Thursday was more of the same, but there was also registration and checking into the actual venue.”
The tournament formally began on Friday and Saturday. Teams played a total of ten qualification matches on Friday and Saturday morning, which determined their seeding and whether they could move on to the elimination rounds. Although The Cavalry fought valiantly, none of the teams moved on to the elimination rounds.
The Cavalry attempted to build intricate and complex robots that could address multiple areas on the field. However, given the time constraints, certain aspects of the robots were simply unable to be tested until matches began.
“Things were under-tested, code wasn’t tested, a lot of mechanisms weren’t properly tested, and really that just came down to we kind of ran out of time in the end,” Lee said.
Still, the potential for success was evident. With a little more time, team members are confident that they could have performed at much higher levels.
“I think, generally, we just, like, almost over-thought our competition,” Fifth Form 169Y team member Zachary Shah said. “Rather than taking the simple route, we kind of wanted to build and go above and beyond. I truly think if we just had one or two more days to prepare, we would’ve done incredible.”
While the results may not have been the most desirable, team members enjoyed competing in person on such a grand stage.
“This is the first time we’ve had the whole team on the trip, which was fun to see, and it’s the first time in a while because of COVID that we’ve had these kinds of events,” Lee said. “This is one of the biggest tournaments they’ve had yet, and it’s really exciting to see it get back on its feet after two years of hiatus.”
Furthermore, Worlds was more than just a competitive, intense competition. For younger members, the event proved to be both an exciting and valuable learning experience.
“It was my first time actually going to Worlds in-person because of COVID, so it was really cool to actually be in that kind of space,” Shah said. “It was also just really fun to hang out with all your teammates for a week in Dallas. And, now, I sort of know the strategy for preparing for Worlds, so we’ll know how to move forwards.”
Perhaps most importantly, team energy remained high throughout the event.
“I don’t think I saw anyone with their heads too low during or after Worlds,” Shah said. “We went out and tried a bunch of food at different restaurants, and just hung out as a team without being too sad about what was happening.”
Sending five teams to Worlds, the most teams sent by the Cavalry since 2017, is nothing to look down upon.
In the end, the season was successful, and the team’s accomplishments and high team spirit throughout the year bode well for the future of the program.
“I’m hugely proud of our team, and I think they’ve done some fantastic stuff and really stepped up during the season,” Coach Leech said. “Of course, I’m super grateful to our seniors. We’re really grateful for everything they’ve accomplished while on the team, and we’re looking forward to what the next class of seniors is going to do in terms of their student leadership.”
Edward Trumpbour ’21 lines up for a shot during a golf match
FIRST NAME ‘2#
ELIJAH LEE ’22 Team 169Z
ARSH AGGARWAL ‘24
ZACHARY SHAH ’23
MR. WILL LEECH
features
Mock Trial leaders reflect on year
Mitav Nayak ’22
The Mock Trial season has come to a close, along with the Mock Trial careers of the six graduating Sixth
Formers.
The group saw a successful run this year, with the first team winning the Montgomery County District Tournament and finishing as finalists at the PA State Competition.
“There were some 250 teams in the state this year and we were one of fourteen to make it that far. At the moment, it might have been stressful, but now I couldn’t be happier with our performance,” Sixth Form Captain Colin Stewart said.
The team’s leadership was a large contributing factor to their success.
“We had a lot of confidence going in,” Sixth Former Will Rubin said. “It was a team made up of six seniors, so we were all pretty confident with the rules of evidence and just how to kind of navigate the whole thing. I think it went very well.”
Younger students were also key to the team’s success.
“Although the varsity team [had] six seniors, a few younger guys stepped in as subs,” Stewart said. “Just generally, we have had a few younger kids who picked Mock Trial up quick[ly], and in Mock Trial, every person you can get thinking about and criticizing the case is a plus.”
In Mock Trial, the team receives hypothetical cases, which Sixth Former Zach Hoyt described as “complicated puzzles.”
These cases are challenging and complex.
“As many of our supporting attorneys have said, these cases are far more difficult than cases they had seen; however, this is also what makes them so fun,” Hoyt said. “It feels great to find a little detail hidden in the case that is detrimental to the other side’s argument and then watch them scramble when you bring it up on cross examination. I think it’s also great that anyone who does Mock Trial comes out with at least a basic understanding of how the law is practiced.”
Several aspects drew Rubin to Mock Trial.
“I’ve always loved acting and arguing, for that matter, but there’s never been a point where I’ve had to think on my feet as fast as I have for Mock Trial, especially in the objection battles,” Rubin said. “When you’re in those, it’s just back and forth. You never really know how the person is going to respond and how confident they are for that matter with the law, so you constantly have to assess and change your strategy. I think my critical thinking skills on the spot have improved so much since I started doing it in tenth grade.” This year’s team was particularly dedicated to improvement, which led to a strong culture of camaraderie and collaboration.
“More than anything, I love the practices where everyone is focused and really into it,” Stewart said. “For example, this year we had a practice where we were discussing the possibility of a person being the stabber in our case. Everyone got super passionate about it—at one point we were even acting it all out. It’s those moments that I’ll remember.”
As they graduate and head into college, the Sixth Formers feel the team is in good hands.
“We had so many guys who weren’t just doing Mock Trial for the resume or for college, but because they genuinely enjoyed the activity,” Hoyt said. “I believe this natural passion is what led to our success because passion, over anything, always wins the day. I hope that the younger guys in the group could see how passionate the senior leaders were, and they can continue to exert that passion in successful years to come.”
WILL RUBIN ’22
COMMUNICATIONS
Haverford’s Mock Trial first team and coaches with the Montgomery County District Tournament trophy
Follow @haverford_index on Instagram for the latest articles right in your feed!
Bowen Deng ’22
The graduation project is more than a requirement; it is an opportunity for Sixth Form students to hone their skills outside the classroom and obtain unique experiences unavailable during the regular school year. Some choose internships and community service programs, while others remain on campus for life lessons from various teachers. Others offer their own unique proposal, seeking to conclude their high school career by pursuing a personal interest.
For Jeffrey Johnson, the days between May 21 and June 9 offered an opportunity to examine his family history. In March, Johnson—while helping his mother sort family belongings—stumbled upon obituaries and information on family relatives, some dating as far back as the early-nineteenth century. Recalling generations of family stories, he was determined to learn more about his ancestors, specifically, on his mother’s side.
“There have been a lot of stories about certain events throughout my family’s history, and we have always wondered if they were true,” Johnson said. “I was thinking, ‘Wow, we could probably find out a lot of stuff with all this information right here.’”
While Johnson’s grandfather and mother were born on the Main Line, Johnson’s great-great-grandfather was originally from Sumter, South Carolina, possibly a freedman sometime around the Civil War. His greatgrandfather moved to the Philadelphia area in the 1920s, citing the lack of jobs in Jim Crow South and the better economic opportunities in the Northeast.
Information before and after his greatgrandfather’s migration is blurry, and Johnson hopes to find other information along the way.
“Until recently, I never realized how many obituaries we had,” Johnson said. “I plan on going through them all with my mom and making a few calls.”
Using the aforementioned obituaries, Johnson will trace his lineage back to South Carolina.
During this lengthy project, census data, living relatives, and county officials will also aid his search. Johnson’s main goal is to find out if his great-great-grandfather was enslaved; if he cannot, Johnson could find information about a potential business he ran.
Additionally, Johnson hopes to fill in any holes in his journey, seeking information about any other relatives, including their lives, occupations, and other relevant stories. His research will culminate in a family tree, mapped with all the material and relevant details gathered along the way.
“I’m excited to find the truth about these stories,” Johnson said. “So much has been passed down and I want to discover what really happened in the past.”
JEFFREY JOHNSON ’22
AUSTIN ZHUANG ’22
Jeffrey Johnson ’22
Damian Ferraro ’22 stresses importance of valuing others through riveting Reflection
Ethan Lee ’24
Applause roared after The Notables walked onto the stage. But the standing ovation was not for the singing group, but for one of its members, Sixth Former Damian Ferraro, who had just given a Reflection about his late godfather, Mr. Michael Stairs. Ferraro shared a powerful talk about valuing and appreciating your loved ones, using his own experiences to emphasize his point.
“Ever since Michael retired, Haverford created an annual concert fund in his honor,” Ferraro said. “It was originally planned as a way to help kids, like Michael did, pursue their passion for music.”
Still, Ferraro wanted to add Michael’s personal touch back into the concerts.
“I lived with this guy for nine years of my life, and he basically turned me into the person I am today,” Ferraro said. “He passed on so much to me. And there was so much that he did for me and my family that it would practically be a crime if I did not say anything about him before I graduated from Haverford.”
And add a personal touch he did. His reflection touched and brought tears to both the students and faculty.
“After Damian’s reflection, I felt like Michael Stairs was someone I knew on a personal level even though I never got the opportunity to meet him,” Fourth Former Render Ford said.
Fifth Former Ethan Chan agrees with Ford’s sentiment.
“As someone who also has an affinity for music, Damian’s homage to Mr. Stairs really touched me,” Chan said. “I also lost my former piano instructor not too long ago, so his reflection definitely spoke to me.”
“I thought it was phenomenal,” finance and history teacher Mr. Brian Long said. “I think that Damian really set a standard for what a reflection can be. He used the stage in such a way that I would love to see other students use it and give Reflections of that quality.”
Dean of Students Mr. Luqman Kolade felt the same way.“I thought it was great. It was really well organized and put together.”
Throughout his talk, Ferraro emphasized a theme: valuing others in our daily lives.
“We all have powerful adults and people who shape who we are, but I think a lot of kids don’t really think about it that much,” Ferraro said. “And frankly, I didn’t as well until Michael passed away. This is not a really selfish thing for us—we have a lot going on, but Michael passing away made me reflect and think about who I was and why.”
DAMIAN FERRARO ’24
academics
Upcoming IC Day aims to shake up traditional learning
Casey Williams ’24
On Wednesday, May 25, all Third, Fourth, and Fifth Formers will partake in Intellectual Curiosity Day. Students received the opportunity to select one of twenty-four activities. IC Day offerings range from visiting one of the largest proprietary trading firms in the world in Susquehanna International Group (“On The Trading Floor”), to exploring a farm and discovering where all of the food you eat comes from (“A Day on a Farm”).
The day offers a completely different form of learning, one that comes without the need for prerequisites, and experiencing the learning hands-on, a term that upper school mathematics teacher and program leader Mr. Nathan Bridge called “experiential learning.”
“You’re learning through and by doing the experience,” Mr. Bridge said. “We’re going to go in, and in the process of having that experience, learning happens.”
Are you satisfied with the course options for IC Day 2022?
35.5%
No
64.5%
Yes
Google Forms poll of 134 student respondents, Between May 14-17, 2022 Student-made cakes from IC Day 2018
One of the activities from the wide variety of options was “The Sopranos: Masculinity, Crime, and the American Dream.” The late 1990s to early 2000s TV show revolves around Tony Soprano, an Italian-American middle-aged mobster dealing with the expected problems of balancing his criminal and home lives. Although the television series aired over two decades ago, it is currently making a comeback amongst contemporary millennials and teenagers. Students will watch episodes of the series and then engage in discussions about the episodes, their revival, and other guiding ideas.
“I think there’s a bigger intellectual and emotional payoff for a lot of them to use English class skills in the context of a really great TV show like that,” English teacher Ms. Emily Harnett said.
Another highlight of the day will be “Understanding 9/11: Authentic Experience in NY.” A group of students will travel to New York City to see the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. The tragedy changed life for everyone, even though students were not yet born when the attacks took place.
Intellectual Curiosity day has occurred four or five times, beginning in 2016 from a “small faculty working committee” according to Spanish teacher Mr. Andrew Poolman, who led the program before Mr. Bridge took over. It originated through several teachers working to promote interdisciplinary thinking as well as to form connections for the students.
The experiential learning idea is designed to get students away from quizzes, tests, and note-taking for a day to focus on fun activities that still promote the core Haverford values. As we approach the end of the 2021-2022 school year, anticipation for the summer is higher than ever, and IC Day may keep students engaged in academic study.
“Experiential learning is essential to boys’ education and transformative for our students, in my opinion,” Mr. Poolman said. “It often frames learning in a different way and breaks up the routine of desks, laptops, and traditional classes.
COURTESY OF MR. ANDREW POOLMAN
neighborhood
Neon lights of Conshohocken’s El Limon beckon the weary traveler
A love letter to El Limon
Joey kauffman ’23 & Connor pinsk ’23
As we drove through the bustling streets of Conshohocken, it didn’t take long to spot the local trearecognized from Spanish class. Indeed, this moment of eating nachos, an American-Mexican classic, and watching sure that is El Limon. The name of the restaurant, illuminated above the store in neon green and yellow, lured us into a world of tortillas and tamales, burritos and barbacoa, jalapeños and Jarritos.
We visited El Limon on a cool Friday night. There were not many issues on our minds until we faced the problem of parking. The crowded streets were anything but welcoming to an SUV, and it seemed like no spot was wide enough. We parked on a neighborhood street lined with homes perched above the Schuylkill River.
We stepped into the restaurant, founded in 2010, the Conshohocken location being the first El Limon that spawned a string of the eateries across the Main Line. We seated ourselves and were greeted within minutes by our kind waitress for the evening. After attending monthly Index formatting sessions fueled by copious amounts of El Limon, we knew enough to order two Jarritos, a Mexican soft drink that we first heard about from our Index mentors. The lime and grapefruit Jarritos shot up bubbles as we lifted them to our mouths and took our first look at the menu.
Few phrases are as spectacular as “loaded nachos,” so this was a clear choice for a starter. We decided on the barbacoa version, and in a shockingly short amount of time, we found ourselves face to face with a mountain of chips, salsa, guacamole, refried beans, cheese, and jalapenos.
We made our way through the nachos, and, relaxed by the laid-back ambiance of the restaurant, started reminiscing. The restaurant was not too loud or distracting, and we were able to enjoy a conversation all the while watching Telemundo, only able to understand the bits and pieces of phrases we Mexican TV with Spanish subtitles may encapsulate the magic that has made El Limon such a success on the Main Line. The restaurant manages to both quell our hunger for greasy, sour-cream-infused Tex Mex while also maintaining its Mexican roots.
Our entrees reflected this duality of El Limon. The first entree was the torta, a Mexican dish that few Taco Bell customers would recognize, and the second entree was the burrito, a word that few Americans wouldn’t salivate over.
The torta was massive, a full-sized kaiser roll stuffed to the brim with meat, cheese, egg, and other “vegetables,” as we like to call them. The burrito was filled with al pastor— pork roasted on a spit—topped with pineapple, rice, beans, and smothered in chipotle sauce.
It didn’t take long for our Herculean Friday-night appetites to be satisfied.
Yet, we knew we had to keep going. Dessert was the next frontier.
Our options were limited, with only three desserts to choose from; however, with open minds and practically overflowing stomachs, we placed our orders for the churros and the tres leches. We waited longer than we expected, but the wait was worth it.
While “three milks” was a somewhat confusing name for a dessert (Why three? Why not four or five?), we were pleasantly surprised at the sponge cake, which was topped with whipped cream and completely drenched in what we later found out was evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream (tres leches!). The treat wasn’t too sweet, but it also melted in our mouths. The churros were similarly delicious—still warm, and served with a small bowl of ice cream that contrasted with said warmth. The three-course meal ended up totaling under $60, crushing competition like Chipotle and Qdoba, corporate chains that profit off of overpriced guacamole.
We were content for the moment as we strolled off into the beautiful mid-May night.
We love El Limon; you love El Limon; The Index loves El Limon; America loves El Limon.
Thank you.
JOEY KAUFFMAN ’23 & CONNOR PINSK ’23
JOEY KAUFFMAN ’23
JOEY KAUFFMAN ’23 & CONNOR PINSK ’23
Amidst pandemic, Bryn Mawr Film Institute endures
Tate Conklin ’24
Everyone enjoys kicking back and enjoying an entertaining evening in the movie theater with friends or family. In recent times, however, with the spread of COVID-19, all movie theaters were forced to shut down temporarily, and many people began to prefer the practicality of watching movies at home. Located only a couple of minutes away from campus, Bryn Mawr Film Institute has been thriving in its recent years, despite the roadblocks our world and the Institute itself have faced.
In addition to its grand appearance, the almost century-old building is deeply rooted in the history of Bryn Mawr. The Institute can teach us a lot about the significance of movie theaters and how their prominence in
society has grown over the past century. “Having to confront [the pandemic] so suddenly and make such a sudden shift was a challenge for our community,” BMFI’s Senior Director of Education and Administration Dr. Andrew Douglas said. “In less than two weeks, we had things up and running virtually where we were offering movies, education, discussions, free lessons, and original content.” “We heard from people who participated in our programs from other countries, continents, other time zones,” Dr. Douglas said. The Bryn Mawr Film Institute, previously known as The Seville Theater, has been in the Bryn Mawr community’s spotlight since 1926. The building was inspired by big-city movie palaces, which could be seen through elements such as the ornate ceiling details and the dramatic atrium.
Brought to life by William Harold Lee, an architect who designed over 200 theaters, the Institute stood out against all of its surrounding buildings and became a large point of attraction. Lee’s architectural choices encapsulate the old age of Bryn Mawr Film Institute. “In the case of this building, we tend to think of the instances where aesthetics and utility are given equal footing,” Dr. Douglas said. “That doesn’t seem to happen as much anymore in commercial buildings, but it did happen then, and most of, if not all movie theaters in that era, remind us of that.” This early era in the history of movie theaters was not a flourishing time. “The movie industry was not held in high regard in the 1920s by many segments of society. There were some fair reasons and some not fair reasons why the movies had that reputation in these times,” Dr. Douglas said. “One of the things that the industry did to combat that was to not just make their movies worth seeing but make their venues a destination unto themself. They were very ornate, often designed in a specific regional or historical style,” Dr. Douglas said. “In most towns, the first public building to be air-conditioned was the movie theater because they wanted people to not just think about what they were going to see; they wanted them to think about the whole expe-
rience being something special.” “The fact that there used to be [a movie theater] every couple of miles down Lancaster Avenue tells you something about this area: that it was prosperous,” Dr. Douglas said. From the 1950s to the late 20th century, the Bryn Mawr movie theater began to lose its sparkle. Surrounded by competition from more modern theaters in addition to the loss of many signature elements, like the skylight and the classic marquee, led to a downward trend in audiences. With the help of the community and a strong campaign, the building avoided being converted into a gym in the early 2000s, and the Institute came back stronger than ever. A big reason for Bryn Mawr Film Institute’s success is its large array of movies and genres. “We show a lot of classic movies culturally literate and educated people like you and your peers will have heard of. A lot of those really important and interesting movies we show here,” Dr. Douglas said. “On the other hand, we show new movies as well. We show them in a variety of topics and genres, and I think that for a demographic that might be very comfortable and used to watching things at home on a smaller screen alone, the value and added experience of seeing a movie on the big screen in an auditorium full of people makes a huge difference.” Dr. Douglas emphasized the overall enhancement of the experience while in the thrilling atmosphere of a movie theater. “Even if no one’s saying anything, you feel the energy of the other people, and you feel them reacting as you are, and it enhances the experience,” Dr. Douglas said. “It’s one worth having—otherwise movies wouldn’t have been around for 100 years.”
DR. ANDREW DOUGLAS
art spread
Artist Spotlight: Third Form artist Alistair Wiedmer sells his first NFT
Christopher Schwarting ’24
Some community members overlook the upper school art studios. While one might spend one’s class time grinding away at an art project in any of the visual pursuits, it’s not often that students dedicate their mornings, evenings, or free periods to working in the studios.
Third Former Alistair Wiedmer, however, pursues art in and beyond the studio every single day. Whether it be petting a canvas with a paint-filled brush in hand, sketching away self-made character drawings on blank paper, or exploring the depths of digital illustration, he spends much time pursuing the visual arts. Upon visiting the art rooms, you’ll likely find him brainstorming his next big project. Along with school and sports, art remains among his top commitments.
Wiedmer’s most recent projects surround a single goal.
“I’ve been trying to create an original character,” Wiedemer said. “I’m trying to create my own unique art style.”
Citing visual artists such as Kaws, an American artist and designer well-known for his recognizable characters, for inspiration, Wiedmer has embarked on his exploration.
Wiedmer said, “I’m trying to spend every day learning tools that can help me in the future, like Adobe After Effects, which helps with my interest in getting into animation.”
To expand this toolkit, Wiedmer plans on moving beyond the staple drawing, painting, and building likely associated with the term “art.” He tries new things.
“I want to branch out into different mediums,” Wiedmer said. “Basically, everything I can. Beyond 2D, [I’ve] been trying 3D— like sculptures—a lot of digital mediums, animation definitely, and I really want to get into clothing.”
With so many avenues to follow, Wiedmer connects his work through a common theme he hopes will guide his future, even as a potential career.
“I want to create my own name,” he said. “I want to be able to expand into real life, such as fashion. I’m really big into things like streetwear—things that are colorful and make you stand out and that aren’t exactly normal.”
With his current focus on 2D character creation, his projects already follow this budding image. For example, in a chain of recent collections, bright schemes add vibrance to individual characterized personas. These have included several projects. Developed with friends, Lunchies Club was a digital line of vegetable characters, each including a portrait of a personified vegetable. Wiedmer also has a new project with 3D modeling or animation in the works.
Much of this commitment was taken on solo, though some work was also divided up with friends. Over time, Weidmer found an interest not only in art’s production side, but also the entrepreneurial side. Harnessing advice from other artists and guides online, he soon found himself putting up his art for sale in the form of an NFT.
A NFT (Non-Fungible Token) is a type of unique digital unit on a Blockchain which represents a real-world item. These digitally exchanged units have, very recently, been popularized by the exchange of art.
In his Derpy Duckies collection, Wiedmer put some of his pieces up as NFTs. The project, which was a derivative-type collection in which the style of different characters was replicated from another artist to a different animal, sought to create various visual applications similar to that of the famous NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club.
In time, Wiedmer sold his first NFT from this collection.
“That is the one time I actually sold an NFT. It was out of nowhere,” Wiedmer said. “One night I was on my computer and I checked Twitter. Someone messaged me saying [they] loved a Derpy Ducky. It sold.”
Wiedmer remains thankful for this sale, as it was his impetus for continuing to combine his artistic talents with publication.
He said, “[The sale] lifted me up. It made my drive to do art increase even more.”
For artists like Wiedmer, the value of developments such as NFTs is profound.
“With NFTs, it’s easier for artists to sell their art and to really profit,” Wiedmer said, “as I don’t hear a lot of stories about regular people going online and finding pictures and paintings and being really interested. Now with NFTs, people cannot only buy artwork because they really like it, but they can also buy it to make a profit off of it. There’s an opportunity to make the money back, for [purchasers] and the artist, too.”
It’s here where Wiedmer’s inspiration for the project derives. On a personal level, he wanted to continue pursuing his passion for art, and on a practical level, he also wanted to seek an avenue to help support his family.
This transition to NFT projects also marks a change in his artistic journey.
“That [first NFT] kickstarted my passion for creating for the public, because before that, I had been creating a lot for myself,” Wiedmer said. “I feel like while I’m still young, now is a good time to start experimenting. It’s trial-and-error over and over again.”
It’s that constant commitment to learning, improving, and self-discovery which defines Wiedmer’s artistic process.
For others looking to move towards making their art public, Wiedmer has encouraging words.
“One thing that I’ve noticed with myself is that I’m scared to put something out there. I get hesitant to share my art to the world. I would say it doesn’t exactly matter how much attention it gets—you just keep on working at it and sharing it,” Wiedmer said. “I stand behind the idea that if you have an idea and you really believe it will work, it will, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
JEFFREY YANG ’22
Alistair Wiedmer ’25 works on a new painting
ALISTAIR WIEDMER ’25
ALISTAIR WIEDMER ’25
art spread
ALISTAIR WIEDMER ’25
Figure 7
Featuring Alistair Wiedmer
ALISTAIR WIEDMER ’25
Inner workings
Imperfect
ALISTAIR WIEDMER ’25
Defying gravity
ALISTAIR WIEDMER ’25
campus opinions
Outside lecturers’ return has been positive
Ian Rosenzweig ’25
Haverford’s commitment to keeping the student body on campus for in-person learning throughout the pandemic has provided us with the best possible school experience over the past two years. We barely missed a beat transitioning in and out of virtual learning when it was necessary, and at the start of the 20202021 school year, our teachers were on campus, working to adjust their courses to fit the new educational landscape.
Despites the invaluable experience Haverford has given us, we’ve missed out on one experience that is not part of a normal school day but that can be the highlight of a day, week, month, or even year: outside speakers and lecturers.
Although the absence of speakers may have gone unnoticed by many in the past year, their return in April 2022 took the upper school by storm. Our first in-person speaker, Reverend Bill Golderer of the United Way of Greater Philadelphia, shared his stories, thoughts, and advice at the Cox Leadership Symposium. Just four days later, the Service Board brought in speakers from The Steven Cohen Clinic to discuss veterans’ mental health. This emotional topic, prefaced by personal connections from Sixth Former Colin Stewart, and combined with the horrifying war stories of the two speakers compelled the upper school student body to give a standing ovation.
These first two lectures, both of which shared lessons and stories, tasked us with taking action for the good of the world and our futures. For the first time in the school year, we had been given a mission by people outside of our community and an opportunity to better ourselves and the world we inhabit. This is the true beauty of hearing from speakers — they bring us a perspective from the world outside of our school bubble of classes, tests, projects, and essays. They draw us in, make us think from the mindset of someone in a field we may pursue and inspire us to champion an issue that we connect with. They help us understand the world around us and start asking questions as simple yet impactful as, “So, how can I help?”
After the first two speakers, the departmental speaker series picked up with the Gwinn Science Lecture on April 14 from squid biologist Dr. Sarah McAnulty. Her engaging and informative lecture began a sequence of other departmental speaker series including Yale Professor Timothy Snyder, author and former Haverford English teacher Dr. Elias Rodriques, and Haverford alum and architect Mr. Eric Fischer.
Once again, these speakers made us question our role in society. Professor Snyder’s lecture about the Russian-Ukrainian War was followed by an extensive questionand-answer session, in which, much like the speakers from the Cohen Clinic, he was asked, “How can we, as high school students, make a difference?” Dr. Rodriques’ stories of the free lunch line and food insecurity in his childhood, all from a man who could easily have been our teacher, connected each of us to the struggles of a life devoid of the privileges that we enjoy. Mr. Fischer’s description of his work and lifestyle brought a fresh perspective into the thought processes of the upper school student body, many of whom have begun to ponder future careers.
Each speaker that Haverford brought for us shared one thing in common: they all asked us to look ahead, whether in career considerations or calling upon us to make a change in the world. Haverford’s reintroduction of in-person speakers has had a great impact on the student body, bringing us fresh perspectives, inspiring challenging thoughts, and compelling us to consider ourselves, our futures, and the world in new ways.
Are you satisfied with the outside speakers who have given assembly talks this year?
27.5%
No
72.5%
Yes
Google Forms poll of 134 student respondents, Between May 14-17, 2022
off campus opinions
An attack on the republic: Roe v. Wade’s likely overturn signals danger to more than abortion
Bowen Deng ’22
On Monday, May 2, at 8:32 p.m, POLITICO released a bombshell. The agency claimed to have obtained a leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court, showing that at least five of the nine justices had voted to overturn Roe v. Wade — a 1973 landmark case affirming the right to abortion — in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). While this is a leak and the Court’s decision could change prior to the ruling’s official release, Roe v. Wade is likely to be overturned.
Social media was in a frenzy, reacting to the leaked decision and attempting to gauge the leak’s legitimacy. Scrolling through the majority opinion, however, I had no doubts that the draft was real, and just a day later, Chief Justice John Roberts confirmed the leak’s legitimacy.
While some were in shock, the decision came as no surprise to those who closely follow the Supreme Court. The Court is currently composed of six originalists (those who consider the original intent and/or understanding of the Constitution by the Founding Fathers) versus three living constitutionalists (those who consider the Constitution through the current cultural and social context). Chief Justice Roberts has been a moderate “swing vote” during his time on the bench, siding with the Court’s living constitutionalist wing more often than his originalist and textualist counterparts. Following the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, he has increasingly found himself in the minority..
Few doubted that, after Barrett’s appointment, Roe would be weakened; however, the Court’s leaked draft went further, overruling both Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), another important precedent in relation to abortion, placing the future of reproductive rights in jeopardy.
In light of recent events, this article seeks to provide context to Roe and the controversial topic of abortion. It also seeks to inform what post-Roe America could look like. While I provide my own analysis and opinions, readers are encouraged to use this article to inspire further research and reach their own conclusion. The history teachers at Haverford are an amazing place to start; a conversation with Dr. Gurtler, Mr. Lengel, or Ms. Turlish would help in a greater understanding of abortion throughout American history.
The Warren Court forged the path to Roe
To truly understand Roe, one must begin two decades prior with the Warren Court. President Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren — then the Republican governor of California — as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1953, wanting a strong leader who would be moderate in his judicial approach. Warren certainly was the former, yet anything but the latter; his broad, living interpretation of the Constitution sought to address inequality and injustice in mid-20th century America.
The Warren Court’s renown would come from its usage of the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause to expand the rights of American citizens. The Due Process Clause prevents states from depriving American citizens of the fundamental rights of “life, liberty, and property.” Substantive due process — the principle that allows the courts to protect unenumerated rights from government interference — would be the basis for some of the Warren Court’s rulings:Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ( segregated schools are unconstitutional), Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) (banning contraceptives is unconstitutional), and Loving v. Virginia (1967) (right to interracial marriage). Even after his retirement as Chief Justice in 1969, Warren’s living constitutional interpretation and usage of the Due Process Clause continued to impact the Supreme Court during the 70s.
Roe v. Wade: Background and Ruling
Prior to Roe, almost every single state banned abortion with few exceptions. Women still obtained illegal abortions with the risk of death when performed improperly. With the Civil Rights and anti-war protests of the 60s, abortion and reproductive rights became a centerpiece of second-wave feminism. New York, Hawaii, Washington D.C., Alaska, and Washington state would eventually legalize abortion in the early stages of pregnancy. Some women would travel to these states to seek safe and legal abortion; however, the vast majority simply could not afford the expenses.
Roe v. Wade (like many other rulings of the prior Warren Court) applied a living interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s Due Process clause, considering the social context of 1970s America in its final ruling. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court nullified a Texas law that banned abortion unless it was performed to save the mother’s life; Justice Henry Blackmun, writing for the majority, stated that the Constitution guaranteed the “right of privacy … founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty” which protected the right to an abortion. Acknowledging the need to balance personal privacy against a state’s interests in protecting potential life, the Court established the trimester framework: in the first trimester of pregnancy, the state could not regulate or prohibit abortion. In the second trimester, the state could begin regulating abortion, and in the third trimester, the state could begin prohibiting abortion unless the mother’s life was at risk.
Roe’s Backlash & Inevitable Decline
Taking up the case, all nine Justices on the Burger Court knew they were treading on a controversial topic; the majority opinion even acknowledged the complicated factors that formed differing opinions of abortion. In recognizing abortion as a constitutional right, however, Roe inflamed the anti-abortion movement; opposition to Roe usually stems from perceived judicial overreach, religious conflicts, or perception of when life begins.
In the decades after the ruling, state legislatures passed restrictions on abortions that either circumvented Roe or disregarded it. A changing, more originalist Supreme Court rejected most abortion-related hearings, while the ones that were heard resulted in partial restrictions on Roe’s trimester framework.
In 1992, Roe faced its greatest challenge
A protestor at a May 2, 2022 rally at the Supreme Court
MIKI JORDAN VIA FLICKR
Do you think abortion should be (1) legal under any circumstances, (2) legal only under certain circumstances, or (3) illegal under all circumstances?
(question language borrowed from The Gallup Poll)
44.4%
(1)
50%
(2)
Roe v. Wade’s overturning cont. from p. 15
LEGOKTM VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Abortion protests following the leaked ruling in NYC, May 3, 2022
when Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania sued Bob Casey Sr. — then governer of Pennsylvania — after he signed a series of abortion restrictions. Ultimately, the Supreme Court partially upheld and partially overturned Roe in a 5-4 ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, upholding most of Pennsylvania’s abortion restrictions while simultaneously striking down the trimester framework; the Court replaced it with a “fetal viability” standard, preventing regulation of abortion prior to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Challenges to abortion have only become more common. States have enacted 108 abortion restrictions in 2021, more than any other year since the Roe v. Wade decision. Abortion has turned into a political issue, with the majority of Democratic politicians supporting it and the majority of Republican politicians against the procedure.
Alito’s Ruling
Finally, we come to Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization. In 2018, Mississippi banned abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy with only medical and fetal abnormality exceptions. The state’s only abortion clinic sued, and the case made its way to the Supreme Court.
I will not provide a full analysis of Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked majority opinion, as that would be too time-consuming. Rather, I will offer a very brief summary and a brief analysis. For those who wish to read the full ruling, you will have no trouble finding it online.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no references to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the Due Process Clause.”
Alito repudiates Roe using originalist and historical analysis; his argument lies in the belief that Roe and Casey were judicial overreach. The issue of abortion had no basis, as the Constitution did not use the term “abortion” and the necessary standard for protection under the Due Process Clause, as laid out in Washington v Glucksberg (1997), was not met. publicans) are set to ban all forms of abortion immediately upon Roe’s official overturning, while five others have pre-Roe anti-abortion legislation that could be revived. During a time when many other countries are expanding abortion access, America will be limiting it, turning back the clock on reproductive rights for five decades.
Roe is set to be officially overturned come June, and, by the end of the summer, Republican-controlled states will likely enact complete abortion bans, while Democraticcontrolled states will enshrine the right to abortion into their state laws and expand access. A fragmented nation will only become more divided, and abortion is likely to be a central issue in the 2022 midterms. Abortions, legal and illegal, will continue, and those most impacted will be poor and working class women, who have neither the time nor money to travel out of state for legal abortions.
Moreover, Alito’s wording is harsh, and his strict interpretation of the 14th Amendment and insistence on a strict historical basis for unenumerated rights opens the door for many other challenges to Civil Rights related issues. While Alito explicitly differentiated abortion from other potentially related issues, one could very much apply his logic to Griswold v. Connecticut, as Roe v. Wade employed similar reasoning. Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), a recent case that recognized the right to same-sex marriage, could logically be challenged, as it relies on the same living interpretation of the Due Process Clause that lead to Roe. In fact, three of the Court’s current originalists — Roberts, Thomas, and Alito himself — dissented on Obergefell, arguing that each state’s electorate should be able to decide on the issue.
Why you (as men) should care about abortion rights
As young, Haverford men, we may not fully understand the complex perspectives of abortion. Still, we are taught to be compassionate, critical thinkers. The benefits of legal and safe abortion do not apply to just women; the ability to terminate an unwanted or accidental pregnancy benefits both partners in a relationship, alleviating any potential costs that come with an unwanted child. Moreover, as American citizens, we should care about the rights of all, no matter their direct impact on us.
Roe v. Wade: a tale of upsetting checks and balances
Colin Stewart ‘22
Igot a text from a classmate.
“Check out what a little birdy just dropped on my desk,” he said. A rough draft of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) followed.
All homework plans went out the window (Sorry, Mr. Tryon, Ms. Cleffi, and Mr. Maley). I spent that evening reading the entirety of the 98-page decision while intermittently surfing the web for articles, flipping through similarly passionate yet ideologically opposite news channels, and responding to the onslaught of texts that attacked my phone.
I was and still am morally split on abortion, but, as a constitutional matter, I believe the Court got it right.
This article seeks to cover a few different topics. First, I will explain the opinion, particularly in relation to the cases it overturns, and what I think about it. Second, I will respond to the critiques of Justice Alito’s opinion. Finally, I will talk about the leak and its impact. A common tie that you will find in Roe v. Wade (1973), Casey v. Planned Parenthood (1992), the Dobbs’s leak, and the reaction to the leak is one of upsetting checks and balances.
While abortion is an important issue, this article neither discusses abortion as a moral issue or opines on the morality of abortion.
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled.” Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) In no ambiguous terms, the majority made their stance clear: Roe and Casey are bad jurisprudence. Justice Alito, one of six originalists on the Court, used two general standards for his analysis. The first is quite obvious: “Is there any explicit mention of abortion in the Constitution?” The second is if the right to an abortion is protected by the Due Process Clause.
This clause offers two forms of protection: substantive due process and procedural due process, the former being the one in question. The standard for substantive due process protection is as follows: the right must be “deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and tradition” and “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.” Washington v. Glucksberg (1997).
The originalist-living constitutionalist schism is not found in the first question–there is no dispute: the Consitution does not explicitly mention abortion–or in the type of due process protection aborition is protected by. The two diverge in whether abortion meets the standard for substantive due process.
Living constitutionalist ardently stand by Roe; originalists repudiate their reasoning.
Roe argues that the first abortion laws emerged at the turn of the nineteenth century. In the seven-justice majority opinion, Justice Harry Blackmun follows a quasi-history, finding that, as abortion laws initially emerged, distinctions were made based on the circumstance and, that up until the few decades preceding Roe, abortion had largely been accepted under certain circumstances.
Along with this, the Court used precedent under the 1st, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 14th Amendments to argue that there is an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution, though not explicit, which is “broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” Roe v. Wade (1973) So, Roe created a trimester-based viability framework that balances a woman’s right to privacy and the states’ interest in protecting “potential life” to substantiate the “ordered liberty” requirement. Thus, while Roe does not give absolute abortion rights, it argues that the right to abortion is both enshrined in history and tradition and necessary to ordered liberty.
While Casey overturned the trimester framework and replaced the strict scrutiny standard of review established in Roe, it upheld Roe’s central holding: that aborition is protected by the Due Process Clause.
Originalists take issue with both conclusions reached in Roe. Justice Alito argues that not only is neither standard met in Roe but that the 1973 case is lax in its jurisprudence: “Roe was ‘not constitutional law’ at all and gave almost no sense of an obligation to try to be,” and “its messages seemed to be that the abortion right could be found somewhere in the Constitution and that specifying its exact location was not of paramount importance.” Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) [original emphasis]
First, he traces back the history of statues outlawing abortions to the 13th century, half a millennium before Roe first finds it. The majority opinion then follows the more accurate of the histories: while abortions before the first sign of life were never explicitly illegal, some abortions laws included limited exceptions, and few states either allowed or had no legislation governing abortion, American historyand tradition is aggressively anti-abortion.
In fact, at the time of Roe’s deciding, 30 states explicitly outlawed abortion at all stages, no state constitutional provision or federal court had recognized any constitutional protection for abortion, and, up until 1968–only five years before Roe–there was no written assertion that the Court could find that argued abortion is a protected right.
As far as the ordered liberty standard for the substantive due process protection, Justice Alito argues that Casey–which, for these purposes, can be treated as merely an extension of Roe–violates the checks and balances relationship between the states and federal government. Casey’s argument that the right to abortion satisfies the ordered liberty requirement–the concept that personal liberty and state’s interests must be balanced–is as follows: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” Casey v. Planned Parenthood (1992)
Justice Alito then points out Casey’s inherent flaw: not only are individuals not allowed to act absolutely on their concept of existence, meaning, and so on but the fact that each person’s concept of these ideas varies so wildly lends the question of abortion to a legislative body, not a court.
I agree wholeheartedly with Justice Alito’s reasoning. Roe and Casey are, perhaps, the most prominent examples of judicial activism. The justices, under the veil of living constitutionalism, decided based on personal policy preferences, providing a quasi-history and self-defeating concept of ordered liberty to substantiate their decision.
Roe and Casey embody the larger criticism of living constitutionalism. The American Constitution is inherently constructed not to evolve with the times but rather to enshrine permanently the values upon which the country was founded. Thus, the Constitution created a process designed to provide that necessary societal progression: the legislative branch that can make laws and amend the Constitution. Originalists argue that it is the legislative body’s responsibility to account for the current social and cultural contexts, not the judiciary’s.
By overturning Roe, and therefore Casey, the Court is not taking a policy stance as it did in Roe and Casey—which was a policy decision determining when a state’s interests begin to take priority over a woman’s. What the Court did do was return each state’s right to decide its laws considering the social and cultural context within each state.
By nature, it is ironic that the largest criticism of the draft opinion has been that it is undemocratic or authoritarian. In fact, by its very nature, the Court has taken power out of the hands of the few, nine justices, and returned it to the roughly 245 million Americans of age to vote.
As follows is a similar critique: the Court did not represent the wider public opinion in its decision. Those who say this fail to understand that the Court is meant to be insulated from public opinion, a point that will be further developed later in this article. It would be awfully disastrous if the scholarly task of interpreting the Constitution was put into the hands of the people, the vast majority of which have never read the Constitution in whole. There is a reason the public elects representatives in the form of legislators and executors and does not elect the federal judiciary. In fact, it is obvious in checks and balances system that the opinion of Americans should play no role in the federal judiciary’s decisions.
Finally, and I do not understand how this concept is a difficult one, the very desire for something to be a right is not in and of itself a reason for its constitutionality. As much as one might want universal healthcare, universal housing, and, yes, abortion to be gaurenteed rights under the Constitution, they are not unless Congress and the President amend it.
While some critiques rely on forcing an electoral mindset onto the judiciary, others have operated within the legal world to criticize Justice Alito’s scathing repudiation.
The first is stare decisis: a legal principle that asserts that cases should be decided according to precedent in most circumstances. If stare decisis were to be adhered to in the absolute like many are calling for, we must also say goodbye to Brown v. Board of Education (1954) or Skinner v. Oklahoma (1942) to name a few, the former outlawing segregation and the latter outlawing forced sterilization as a punitive measure.
In fact, Justice Alito in a footnote gives twenty-five different examples of the Court overturning past precedent like Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), and Koramatsu v. United States (1944), and replacing it with a new interpretation. The fact that many a progressive is arguing for strictly adhering to the past as opposed to constant change aimed at perfecting the statute book is, to me, crazy.
Others have looked to Justice Alito’s elicitation of 13th century treatises as a reason why the Court is broken; “just another conservative originalist trying to drag America back to the past” some might say. Not only is this opinion uninformed but, quite frankly, hilarious. The standard for substantive due process protection requires that the Court look for a “deeply rooted … history and tradition.” Washington v. Glucksberg (1997) This means that not only is it necessary to prove this history and tradition to overturn Roe but it was necessary when Roe was decided. In other words, Roe looked back to the past even farther than Justice Alito did. All the way back to Ancient Persia.
Lastly, some have stated that this decision, if it ultimately comes to fruition, would put other Due Process Clause cases at risk of overturning as Dobbs would provide a basis upon which to do it. This critique is
one explicitly mentioned by Justice Alito: “The abortion right is also critically different from any other right that this Court has held to fall within the Fourteenth Amendment’s protection of ‘liberty’,” and “Roe’s defenders characterize the aborition right as similar to rights recognized in past decisions involving matters such as intimate sexual relations, contraception, and marriage, but abortion is fundamentally different.”
For example, Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) and Loving v. Virginia (1967), both cases that protect marital rights under the Due Process Clause–the former same sex and the latter interracial–have wildly different analyses of their “deeply rooted” history and tradition than that of an abortion case. To say that by overturning Roe and Casey puts all Due Process Clauses cases at risk for overturning is to ignore the many considerations that go into deciding whether the standard for substantive due process protection is met.
Many of these criticizers would also support the nationwide protests against the Dobbs decision. These protests not only upset the checks and balances and are, in some cases, illegal, but were likely the intended result of the leaker.
There are two possibilities that I see for the leak, both of which intentionally upset the checks and balances and intend to illicit illegal protests. I know “illegal protests” is a controversail statement (to understate it) but stick with me.
The first possibility is a liberal leak. Their intention would be to leverage public opinion against the justices to get them to switch their vote and rile the Democrat voter base to counteract the slaughter that many pollsters on both sides of political spectrum have predicted for the 2022 midterms. The second is a conservative leak. Their intention would be to solidify the current vote, knowing that if any change in the tally were to happen it would be attributed to the public pressure put on justices, therefore calling the legitimacy of the decision into question.
It does not matter for these purposes what aisle of the political specturm the leak is on; both would have leaked the document to elicit public outcry from the pro-choice sect. The public outcry that unavoidably came was ruthless, and continues to be. Nationwide, protests have erupted locally and nationally. These are the problem but they are not the problem. While these protests should not be happening in the first place, they lack a personal connection; they are people the justices do not know protesting hundreds if not thousands of miles from D.C..
The protests that I take problem with are the ones outside the homes of the originalist justices, namely Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. By going to the house of the justices, the protesters introduce a level of threat that is very real for the justices, especially when many of their houses now have round-the-clock police barricades.
Considering the new level of threat introduced, 18 U.S. Code § 1503 (a)(3)- “Influencing or injuring officer or juror generally” also takes issues with these protesters actions: “Whoever corruptly, or by threats or force … endeavors to influence, intimidate, … any … officer in or of any court of the United States … in the discharge of his duty … shall be punished [with] … imprisonment not more than 10 years.” It is hardly a stretch to say that protesters separated from the justices’ houses by armed police officers do not pose some sort of threat and do not in any way seek to influence or intimidate their decisions.
Come June, who knows. This article could all be for nought. I could be writing an article that argues for the dissenting opinion in Dobbs. I guess we will have to wait.
But the true takeaway from this article is not substantive due process of 13th century treatises; it is the broader context through which one must start considering legal and political issues: checks and balances. When one looks to the checks and balances created by the Constitution–the constitutional interpretation based on checks and balances is structuralism–they will, hopefully, find a sense of clarity within the political and legal context through which they view issues. Rather than frustrating over a decision they do not like, one might realize their place within the broader structure; one might realize the proper and improper ways of obtaining governmental change; one might discover a path to being not only a better citizen but a better thinker and, thus, a better human being.
LORIE SHAULL VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS “This body in not a political battlefield” sign at a Stop Abortion Bans Rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, May 21, 2019
Charlie Keidel ’24
Approaching the midterm elections in November, President Joe Biden faces a big problem. He is losing the support of younger voters, a group that turned out huge for him and his party in the 2020 Presidential Election.
Entering the Oval Office, Biden’s approval rating among young Americans was at 60%. A year and a half later, that support has dwindled: only 38% of young Americans stated that they approve of the job that he is doing.
To put this in perspective, only about 18% of young Americans describe themselves as Republicans; young voters are overwhelmingly progressive. This led to the Democratic Party’s recent shift left, with the likes of Senators Cory Booker, Dick Durbin and many others shifting leftwards to attempt to accommodate for this large voting base the Democratic party desperately wants to hold onto. Consequently, President Biden’s declining support among younger voters will have consequences in nationwide elections as a whole.
Young voters have to be compelled to vote. In 2020, the storm of racial injustice, the pandemic, and a general disapproval of President Trump created enough unrest to drive young voters out to vote, and they did in a big way, with President Joe Biden winning the most votes of any presidential candidate ever. Now that President Biden is in office, young voters feel like he isn’t living up to his lofty, progressive campaign promises that drove them out to vote in the first place.
This isn’t to say the President hasn’t done anything: he’s passed bipartisan infrastructure and COVID relief bills, committed to combating climate change, and pulled all U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. Young voters to the left of President Biden lack pragmatism, as many fail to recognize that not only is it a struggle to pass progressive legislation, but not every state is a liberal paradise.
A lot of Democratic Senators in swing states and even red states such as West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, and Montana’s Jon Tester can’t support the same progressive policies that Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren and Vermont’s Bernie Sanders can. The former have to worry about upcoming electoral challenges, and not falling out of favor in their more conservative states. The two groups are operating on a completely different playing field.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Pramila Jayapal, and Jerry Nadler don’t have to worry about how progressive and intolerable to the greater American populace the policies they put forward are because they are guaranteed to retain their seats. Therefore, they set an unrealistic and unreachable standard of politically progressive purity that Democratic politicians like Joe Biden, cannot uphold. This is not to blame Ocasio-Cortez, Jayapal, and Nadler though.
Young voters must recognize that what their local progressive representatives advocate for is a lot of the time not politically feasible at the national level. This doesn’t mean that change cannot be instituted, just that compromise is a fundamental part of the American government and frustration that Joe Biden can’t just ram through progressive legislation is quite unfounded.
Change is important, and young voters must be forward thinking in their approach every time Election Day rolls around.
Biden’s collapse with young voters signifies something bigger
