Melissa Harvey
West Virginia University College of Law, Rising 3L
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Elegant Solutions to Difficult Questions

We repeat the story of King Solomon and the baby as an illustration of judicial wisdom—a clear, simple answer that cuts to the heart of the matter. It’s elegant, and we respond to it. It has the perfect level of thinking involved. Oh, the one who loves the child the most is the real mother.

But do anecdotes work? I mean, honestly, can one act of pretending to care actually trump maternity? I doubt it. Besides, who cuts a baby in half? How many times do you have a conversation where someone gives a trumped-up example and while you’re blinking, they tell you that you don’t have the correct reaction? Meanwhile, you’re thinking that they can’t possibly mean it. I wonder, would King Solomon have been able to cut the baby in half had both women agreed?

Today was a serious day of study. All day we tried desperately to read all the pages ahead of us. And it’s a good balance, because a study abroad should balance the abroad with the study. First, Professor Scully gave a lecture on capital punishment. We discussed the good work that the folks at the Innocence Project do trying to make sure those on death row have committed the crime for which they are punished. We discussed the burdens on lawyers who try a death-eligible case, which seems to me a terrifying burden. And we didn’t even get to discussion our deep cultural indecision regarding capital punishment or the Supreme Court deciding it was right, then wrong, then right, then right for certain culpable persons.

In the evening, Professor Friedberg gave a lecture on asylum law that was part of a lecture series for the University of Guanajuato. We sat in a more formal lecture hall, and a translator assisted Prof. Friedberg. He gave an overview of the field and discussed domestic violence—is it persecution? Is the woman part of a class? These are issues that are not yet settled in the law.

Naturally, there’s no good reason to discuss that which is settled, but I know these lectures we have had spark debate among the group. And I suspect that the answers to the many social ills we face may be elegant, but they will not likely be simple.