The Honorable Joseph F. Anderson, Jr. ‘75, United States District Judge for the District of South Carolina held a hearing for law students to observe without leaving campus.
Anderson, who also teaches Evidence and Federal Courts, heard Public Interest Legal Foundation, Inc. v. Howard M. Knapp in the Karen J. Williams Courtroom at the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law.
This hearing, similar to the hearing Anderson presided over this past January, involved election law. Last week’s case focused on the National Voter Registration Act and whether it preempts a South Carolina State law prohibiting the distribution of S.C. voter registrant lists to individuals other than registered S.C. voters.
Judge Anderson made his ruling shortly after the arguments concluded and granted the plaintiff summary judgment, citing a recent 4th Circuit ruling on the expansive nature of ‘all’ referenced in the state law prohibition.
Following the hearing, Anderson encouraged students to ask questions of the attorneys, most of whom were USC law alumni.
In explaining how his team prepared to represent the plaintiff, Christian Adams ‘93 said much of the subject matter work was already done, so it was a matter of tinkering with their previous work in other states on the same issue.
"While you use the same tools, there are different ways to look at it from a state versus federal perspective,” says Liz Crum ‘73, one of the attorneys representing the defendant. “And as we know, English is a very clear language,” she quipped to an amused audience.
Tracey Green ‘95, another of the attorneys representing the defendant, said the level of collaboration depends on the subject and argument. Ben Jenkins ‘23 added that regarding this matter, the more seasoned attorneys were “great about hearing us out.”
“This is a complicated, tangled statute,” Adams says, explaining why both sides sought summary judgment. “The legislative history is tangled. It takes days to read, and we didn’t want to go down that road.”
When the questions and answers concluded, Dean William Hubbard thanked Judge Anderson and the attorneys for agreeing to hold the hearing at the law school and providing students this “incredibly helpful exposure to the legal system.”