A Sleep-over at the Supreme Court
by Yannick Morgan
Coming from a big school in the Deep South, I once believed that when over 100 people camp out on a freezing cold night waiting for tickets in a single file line wrapped around an oversized building, it could mean only one of two things: the biggest collegiate sporting event of the year or a raucous Kenny Chesney concert. When I participated in a Washington version of this ritual for the first time Monday night, I found a no-less impassioned group of people. They had come from all over the United States to witness oral arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller before the highest court in the land.
Galvanized by their beliefs on gun control, people traveled from far and wide to hear the nine Justices examine the constitutionality of DC's ban on handgun possession. Arriving at 10:30 p.m. the night before the case was to be argued, I spotted a friend in line who informed me that there was a list and that I would do well to get on it. He was number 37 and had arrived at 3:30 that afternoon. Almost a full 12 hours before the oral argument began, I found myself with number 72 – so far back in the line and away from the steps of the Court that the pavement had turned to mud.
Luckily, numbers 60 through 71 turned out to be the most interesting batch in the bunch. Our motley crew included a conservative George Washington University 2L on law review, a hill staffer for a North Carolina Congressman, a brilliant second-year undergraduate from the University of Maryland, a navy veteran fresh off an airplane from Texas, and me. For the first few hours, the dialogue was incredible: we debated the merits of the case, the Second Amendment, and differing views on Constitutional interpretation. Although our lively conversation was initially only interrupted by periodic ponderings on the likelihood of actually getting in to see the case, it eventually dissipated into rousing bouts of the mindless yet amusing “name game.”
Even having slept a total of 25 minutes, morning came more quickly than expected. The sunrise brought with it journalists, a few protestors, and members of the Supreme Court Bar. Suddenly, we were inundated with camera crews and reporters for everything from network news to personal documentaries. Though I gave a couple of interviews, I largely avoided the cameras, as this ugly mug was far from fantastic after that many hours of sleep deprivation.
In the end, the Court seated only 60 people – lucky for our University of Maryland friend, but not for the rest of us. So, after more than 11 hours of waiting in 34 degree weather, and faced with only the hope of a mere 3 minutes in the Court’s rotating seats, I handed in my number and left the Court with no oral arguments, numb feet, but the satisfaction of a night well spent.