Supreme+Court+Field+Trip

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On the morning of June 28, students in the Hoya-Spartan Scholars lab at the Georgetown Debate Seminar traveled to the Supreme Court for the announcement of the historic health care ruling. Thirty-four students from 22 schools and ten states were accompanied by six instructors as they took in the sights and sounds in front of the United States Supreme Court Building.

In preparation for the trip, students discussed the legal and political issues surrounding the health care ruling and were briefed about the process by which the Court decides its cases.

Students took advantage of this unique opportunity not only by observing the crowd but also by participating in the discussion. Debaters engaged with protesters on both sides of the health care issue and discussed their perspective with members of the news media. Holding signs that they had prepared the night before, students attracted a great deal of attention from journalists representing media outlets across the political spectrum. Students were interviewed by:


 * ABC
 * American Prospect
 * Associated Press
 * Business Journal
 * CBS
 * CCTV
 * Eisenhower Institute
 * Fox News
 * MSNBC
 * National Journal
 * NBC
 * Northwestern University (Medill)
 * PBS NewsHour
 * Progressive Democrats for America
 * Red Alert News
 * Reuters
 * Roll Call
 * University of Maryland
 * Voice of America
 * Washington Post

Several students appeared in live feeds of major news networks.

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The [|Business Journal's write-up of the ruling] included a mention of the students: "There also was a group of high school students who took a break from the debate camp they were attending at Georgetown University to catch the scene at the Supreme Court. 'High school debaters willing to talk about both sides of the issue,' read one of their signs. Now if the rest of us could just do the same."

Several students were interviewed by PBS NewsHour: "NewsHour Extra scoured the crowds at the Supreme Court building to talk to students about the ruling." [|The video they produced to share young people's reactions to the health care ruling] was overwhelmingly composed of interviews with our students.

Our group was also mentioned by [|Voice of America News] (in the [|video]), [|Roll Call], [|The American Prospect], [|Alternet], on [|David Ingram's Twitter feed], and in a photo on [|Patch].

//Additional photographs coming soon!//