Rhode Island Law Day 2017

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Victoria Winter, Managing Editor

On Friday 28th, 2017 North Providence hosted a special event in honor of Law Day.

Students from Mock Trial and Criminal Justice were invited to a two hour presentation by Honorable Judge Laureen Q. D’Ambra and Rhode Island Attorney Valerie Leòn. Dr. Mary Archibald, Ph.D. a truancy officer for the Providence School District and Officer Kevin were also in attendance.

For the first period, Judge D’Ambra answered a set of questions about her job. She explained what is what like to work in Family Court and what is was like to work on DCYF(Department of Children, Youth, and Families) cases. For example, she talked about a new way of collecting child testimony through a closed circuit television and how it is better because the children do not need to to make the statements in front of their parents. Their parents can still hear the testimony through earphones however, so it is not in violation of the confrontation clause.

After Judge D’Ambra finished talking about her job as a judge, Attorney Leòn gave a quick review on our country’s government and then began to go more in depth on the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment is the longest amendment in the Constitution and is arguable the most litigated, meaning it’s interpretation is the most argued in court. The amendment defines the naturalization clause, stating anyone born in the United States is a U.S. citizen, and also that unless there is due process of the law, states do not have the right to infringe on the fundamental rights of humans: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Leòn then explained the standards by which courts categorize civil disputes. Strict scrutiny is the highest standard which generally pertains to fundamental rights being infringed, or race being a factor. Intermediate scrutiny is the medium standard and can be applied to gender and illegitimacy cases. Rational basis, the lowest standard, is everything else. To test the audiences attention, there was a small interactive quiz where students had to choose was standard would be used for which case. At the end of the period, Leòn answered questions from the audience.

The presentation was overall a great opportunity for students to gain more incite on what a career in law and justice was like. Also, students were able to obtain a greater understanding of the country’s constitution and how courts come to decisions on cases.