The Armed Forces Court of Appeals Comes to Visit

The highlight of the week was Loren's oral argument before the Armed Forces Court of Appeals. Under the Supreme Court, that is the highest appeals court with worldwide jurisdiction over all criminal cases involving active military service members. Every once in a while the court visits different law schools as part of its Student Outreach Program and conducts real hearings at the schools. Loren was chosen to submit a brief and speak on behalf of W&L as an Amicus Curiae (friend of the court). He chose to support the defendant. Loren put in tons of work and time into the brief, staying at the school till 10 pm sometimes trying to get it perfect. He had a lot of professors working with him too, giving him suggestions and opinions. Sometimes a little too many.

The day of the argument we all woke up sick. Lydia had a runny nose, I had a sore throat, congestion and achiness and Loren also had a sore throat. Lovely! We stocked up on cough drops, kleenex's and water and made our way to the school. I broke the Mom Code and dropped Lydia off at my friend's house, who has two kids, with a runny nose. Oh the shame. If it hadn't been such an important event I never would have done it, promise!

As we entered the Moot Court room we had to go through security, no bags or outside water were allowed in room. It was a little crazy to see so many body guards. I had a seat reserved right next to Loren on the front row behind the counsel. The room was packed with students and another classroom was being used as overflow was also full. I started feeling the butterflies.

We all stood as the judges entered the room. There were five, four men and one woman. Defense counsel went first with a 20 minute argument. In this type of setting, the judges can interrupt the counsel whenever they want and ask them questions. The attorney then has the task of answering them at the drop of a hat. Soon it was Loren's turn. Crikey! He stood at the podium for a moment, gathering his thoughts, then started with, "May it please the court.." All my fears faded away as he continued. All those practice run-throughs with professors paid off as he had no problem answering the many questions the judges threw at him. I was so proud.

No pictures were allowed in the actual courtroom during the argument, but someone took this picture of the live-stream in the overflow.

After Loren sat down it was the opposing counsel's turn who in this case, was the government. The judges ripped this poor guy to shreds. Not even shreds, more like confetti. I was so glad they didn't go as hard on Loren. I could see the government attorney physically shaking and sweating because of the stress. I had never seen anything like it. After that little show, the defense counsel had two minutes for rebuttal and then court was adjourned. Unfortunately, there's no video recording of the trial but there is an audio recording. You can listen to it here: http://www.caaflog.com/2015/10/25/caaf-argument-audio-hoffman-rapert/ (It's the Hoffmann case, and Loren's part starts around the 20 minute mark). And if you want an overview of the case, you can read about it here: http://www.caaflog.com/2015/10/13/argument-preview-united-states-v-hoffmann-no-15-0361mc/. We'll also post more pictures when we get them.

Loren received many compliments on his argument and we took pictures and mingled with the judges and staff. I was feeling really sick so we made our exit. We picked up Lydia and celebrated with lunch at our favorite cafe, Blue Sky. It was a unique and great experience for Loren but we're all glad it's over now.

We see this little girl almost every day. I'm not sure what we'd do without our friend Adeline. We had some play-doh fun this week.

It was too nice not to be outside but because I can't contain both girls by myself, I stuffed them in the stroller. We ran into Loren who was walking home from school. It was a little squishy but they didn't seem to mind.