Nice job with your analysis of the Abramski case!

I was very impressed with how deeply you considered the arguments.  Are you missing the free lunch challenges?  Check back this week for a couple of free lunch challenges.  See you on Tuesday.

The Terrence Croft Essay Contest is Underway! Here are some tips for you interns.

Terrence Croft, Esq.
Co-Founder of SLIP

Here are some tips for you interns as you work on your essays.

Justice Kagan

1.  The Supreme Court's opinion in Abramski v. United States is HERE.

2.  An article highlighting the importance of the interpretation of words from The New Yorker magazine is posted HERE.

3.  The audio recording of the oral argument is posted HERE.

4.  The transcript of the oral argument is posted HERE.

Bruce Abramski
Former Virginia Police Officer

A TIP:  IF YOU THINK THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION PRESENTED IN ABRAMSKI IS SIMPLE, REMEMBER THAT THE DECISION WAS 5 TO 4.  YOU SHOULD GO BACK AND REVIEW THE DISSENT OR LISTEN TO THE ORAL ARGUMENT AUDIO AGAIN TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE CONSIDERED ALL SIDES AND ARGUMENTS BEFORE FORMULATING YOUR OWN OPINION.

(ALSO, DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE FOR YOUR ESSAY ASSIGNMENT.)

Richard Dietz, attorney for petitioner Abramski, during oral argument

SLIP 22 Favorite Quotations

Friday, at the kickoff breakfast, my favorite quote from Paula Frederick was, "You have a village of people invested in your success!"  On June 6, 2014, we gave you our favorite quotations and asked you to give us yours.  There are some real gems in there.  See below.

Wade Malone's Favorite Quotation

Natasha Perdew Silas's Favorite Quotation

Nekia Hackworth Jones's Favorite Quotation

Mariana Pannell's Favorite Quotation


Jumoke Aremu:  "Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."

Jahvon Blackman:  "Perfection is never enough."

Zeba Pirani's Favorite Quotation

Harsha Sridhar's Favorite Quotation

Karemma Brown's Favorite Quotation

Mary Elizabeth Burke's Favorite Quotation

Avery Bufkin's Favorite Quotation

Jalyn Buster's Favorite Quotation

Norris Davis, III:  "Excuses are moments of nothingness that build bridges to nothing."

Evan Doanes:  "Laziness is nothing more than resting before you get tired."

Tseganesh Gebresilassie's Favorite Quotation

Rachelle Jacques:  
"Those who prepare today will own tomorrow."

Chamondrea Lane's Favorite Quotation

Deborah Fataki's Favorite Quotation

Khari King's Favorite Quotation

Jalil Lucas:  "To be a great leader, you must lead yourself in such a way that will inspire others to follow you."  (Jalil Lucas)

Patrick Mbemena's Favorite Quotation

Isabella Minter's Favorite Quotation

Anquita Mitchell:  "Success is the epitome of a hardworker."

Esther Nyarko's Favorite Quotation

Nimiye Ogoun:  

"Where there's a will, there's a way."

Brahia Parker:  

"Plan for your next step, don't leave in your next step."

Korey Silas's Favorite Quotation 

Austin Sumlin's Favorite Quotation:  "You gotta have that hunger Rock!"

Tyreek Baisden's Favorite Quotation

Courtney Taylor:  "You may not have been the one that cut down all the trees, but you're still not standing in a forest."

Jala White:  "Nothing is impossible, it says I'm possible in the world."

Tyanni Wright's Favorite Quotation

Celine Opoku's Favorite Quotation

Richard Williams's Favorite Quotation

Terrific Kickoff Breakfast This Morning!

All of you did so well with your introductions!  Chamondrea hit one out of the park with that awesome introduction.   Paula Frederick's advice was terrific.

Paula's three points of advice :

1.  Learn something new everyday.

2.  Use this summer to learn about yourself.

3.  Think about how lucky you are to be in this program and enjoy the opportunity that you have.

My favorite quote from Paula's remarks was:  "You have a village of people who are invested in your success."  That is so true.

Have a restful weekend and be ready to hit the ground running next week.

Tasha

SLIP Kick-Off Breakfast

We are looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow at the Kick-Off Breakfast.  The location is 1201 West Peachtree Street, 50th Floor (tall building in the center pictured below).  This is on the corner of West Peachtree and 14th Street.  Please have ID ready when you go through security.

Parking can be rather pricey in this area so, if you are able, we encourage you to take MARTA.  The Arts Center Station is a very short walk away.

Explanation of the Solution to Free Lunch Challenge 3

Congratulations again to Xayla Wilson for winning the free lunch challenge.  I thought some of you might be interested in the explanation to the problem.  See below for a reprint of the problem followed by its solution.

Logical Reasoning

Everyone who is compassionate is kind, and someone who has experienced life’s challenges is invariably compassionate. Jeremy is kind, so he has experienced life’s challenges.
Which one of the following exhibits a pattern of flawed reasoning most similar to that exhibited above?

(A) Roberta is a highly productive person. Every person who is motivated is highly productive, and every person who is organized is motivated. Therefore, Roberta is very organized.
(B) Nice people are always sympathetic people, and those who have experienced hardships always end up being nice. Betsy is not a sympathetic person, so Betsy has not experienced hardships.
(C) Almost everyone who loves black and white films is a movie buff, and all movie buffs enjoy popcorn. Sasha does not love black and white films, so Sasha probably does not enjoy popcorn.
(D) Patience requires an even temperament, and being a good parent certainly requires patience. James has no patience, so James is not a good parent.
(E) Successful entrepreneurs are either confident or experienced. Yoshi is a successful entrepreneur, and he is not experienced. Therefore, Yoshi is confident.

Solution:

The given argument contains two conditional statements:
1. Everyone who is compassionate is kind. (C → K)
2. Someone who has experienced life’s challenges is invariably compassionate. (E → C)
We can connect these conditionals: E → C → K
From this chain we can see that someone who has experienced life’s challenges is kind: E → K
Notice that the conclusion of the argument is the reverse of this. If Jeremy is kind, then he has experienced life’s challenges: K → E
This is an invalid reversal of the logic. To get a sense of what that means, consider this:
If we know that If Tony wins the prize, he’ll be happy (P → H), can we infer that if Tony is happy, it means he won the prize (H → P)? It may be tempting to say yes, but we cannot infer that (we can’t say it for sure) because perhaps Tony is happy for a different reason (he got engaged, he got a raise at work, etc.).

In selecting our answer, we want to look for a choice that makes the same invalid reversal.
Answer (A): CORRECT
Every person who is motivated is highly productive. (M → HP)
Every person who is organized is motivated. (O → M)
These connect to give: O → M → HP
So we know: O → HP
The argument uses reversed logic to make a conclusion about Roberta. Because she is highly productive, she is organized: HP → O
This is the same flaw that appeared in the original argument, so this is the correct answer. This answer is a bit tricky because the argument is in a different order. However, we’re tasked with finding an argument with the same flawed logic. The order is irrelevant.
Answer (B):
Nice people are always sympathetic people. (N → S)
Those who have experienced hardships always end up being nice. (EH → N)
These connect to give: EH → N → S
So we know: EH → S
The argument uses a correct contrapositive to makes its conclusion about Betsy. Betsy is not sympathetic, so Betsy has not experienced hardships: -S → -EH
This argument has no flaw.
Answer (C):
We can tell immediately that this argument does not contain the same conditional logic flaw as the original because two out of three statements in this argument aren’t even conditional statements:almost everyone who loves black and white films, and Sasha probably does not enjoy popcorn.
Answer (D):
Patience requires an even temperament. (P → ET)
Being a good parent certainly requires patience. (BGP → P)
These connect to give: BGP → P → ET
The argument uses a correct contrapositive to make its conclusion about James. James has no patience, so James is not a good parent: -P → -BGP
This argument has no flaw.
Answer (E):
This argument is based on either/or logic, which is different from the logic used in the original argument. Furthermore, this argument is not flawed. If Yoshi is not experienced he must be confident.

It was a beautiful day for a photograph. Also, congratulations to Xayla Wilson for winning Free Lunch challenge number 3!

Enrichment Due June 12, 2014

2014 ATLANTA BAR ASSOCIATION

SUMMER LAW INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

 

ENRICHMENT FOR JUNE 12, 2014

 

1.      Name the nine (9) United States Supreme Court Justices and the President that nominated each of them.

 

2.      What does the Eighth Amendment mean when it states that an individual will not be subject to "cruel and unusual punishments?"

 

3.      What did the United States Supreme Court hold in its Morse v. Frederick case?  Why is this case significant?

 

4.      What does the "Rule of Sequestration" mean in a jury trial?

 

5.      What is the constitutional significance of "Double Jeopardy?"

 

6.      How old do you have to be before you can serve as President of the United States?  Do you agree?  Why or why not? 

 

7.      Australia requires its citizens to vote.  Should the United States?  Why or why not?

  

You are required to do your work on your own.  At the bottom of each of your assignments during the 2014 summer internship program, please write the following:

 

I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT I DID NOT RECEIVE ASSISTANCE IN COMPLETING THIS WORK AND DID THE WORK BY MYSELF.

 

 

Signed:                                                                                    Date:                                                  

 

Sample Thank You Letter

As you work on your thank you letters over the summer, please be sure that they are in the right format.  For your reference, an example letter is posted below:

Tasha's Free Lunch Challenge Number 3: See below.

Everyone who is compassionate is kind, and someone who has experienced life’s challenges is invariably compassionate. Jeremy is kind, so he has experienced life’s challenges.

Which one of the following exhibits a pattern of flawed reasoning most similar to that exhibited above?

(A) Roberta is a highly productive person. Every person who is motivated is highly productive, and every person who is organized is motivated. Therefore, Roberta is very organized.

(B) Nice people are always sympathetic people, and those who have experienced hardships always end up being nice. Betsy is not a sympathetic person, so Betsy has not experienced hardships.

(C) Almost everyone who loves black and white films is a movie buff, and all movie buffs enjoy popcorn. Sasha does not love black and white films, so Sasha probably does not enjoy popcorn.

(D) Patience requires an even temperament, and being a good parent certainly requires patience. James has no patience, so James is not a good parent.

(E) Successful entrepreneurs are either confident or experienced. Yoshi is a successful entrepreneur, and he is not experienced. Therefore, Yoshi is confident.

22nd Summer Law Internship Program Kick-Off Breakfast - June 13, 2014

Congratulations to Free Lunch Challenge Winners!

Great meeting yesterday.  It was exciting to make work assignments.

Congratulations to winners of our free lunch challenges:  Norris Davis, III - first free lunch challenge and Huda Saeb - second free lunch challenge

More to come.  See you Friday morning!

The Second Free Lunch Challenge: See Below

If you are interested in entering the Second Free Lunch Challenge, read the logic problem below and be ready to submit your answer either A, B, C, D, or E at tomorrow's orientation.  (Remember:  this is not a program requirement, only an opportunity to win a free lunch gift card.)  The first correct answer drawn will receive the free lunch gift card.

Lisa is a travel guide writer who will visit 7 countries: Austria, Belize, China, Denmark, England, Fiji, and  Guatemala. She must visit each of these countries in accordance with the following restrictions:                      

Lisa must visit exactly two countries before her visit to China but after her visit to Belize.                   
China cannot be the last country she visits.                                                                       
Lisa cannot visit Belize until she has visited Austria.                                                       
She cannot visit England immediately after she visits Denmark, nor can she visit Denmark immediately after she visits England.                                                                                                    
Fiji must be visited either 4th or 5th.                                                                            

Which one of the following could be the order in which Lisa visits the countries, from first to last?           
(A) Austria, England, Belize, Guatemala, Fiji, China, Denmark                                                    
(B) Austria, Belize, Guatemala, Fiji, China, Denmark, England                                                    
(C) England, Austria, Belize, Fiji, China, Denmark, Guatemala                                                    
(D) Austria, Denmark, Belizea, Fiji, England, China, Denmark                                                    
(E) Denmark, Guatemala, Austria, Belize, Fiji, England, China 

Can you identify the woman on the right in this photograph?