On Tuesday, November 27, 2001, eleven alumni and faculty were sworn in as members of the Bar of the United States Supreme Court. After breakfast at the Court, on motion by Dean Shelley Broderick, herself a member of the High Court's Bar, Chief Judge William Rhenquist did the honors in open court before oral argument before the entire court and a packed gallery.

The new members of the Supreme Court Bar are Denise Wiktor, `84; Karen Newton, `87; Gayle Driver, ‘93; Linette Lander, `93; Mark Sobo, `94; Janice Washington, ‘94; Paul Raizk, ‘96; Dana Richard, ‘97; and Joyce Batipps, `96; as well as UDC-DCSL Profs. Olinda Moyd and Christine Jones.

The two oral arguments were US v. Arvizu and Owasso v. Falvo. United States v. Ralph Arvizu concerned Fourth Amendment, Search and Seizure, Reasonable Suspicion, and the Totality-of-the-Circumstances Test. The questions were whether the court of appeals erroneously departed from the totality-of-the-circumstances test that governs reasonable-suspicion determinations under the Fourth Amendment by holding that seven facts observed by a law enforcement officer were entitled to no weight and could not be considered as a matter of law AND, whether, under the totality-of-the-circumstances test, the Border Patrol agent in this case had reasonable suspicion that justified a stop of a vehicle near the Mexican border.

In Owasso Independent School District, et al. v. Kristja J. Falvo, Parent Education, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and Student Grading were at issue. The question: Does allowing students to grade each other's homework and tests as their teacher goes over the correct answers aloud in class violate FERPA's prohibition against the release of "education records"?

Originally scheduled for Wednesday, October 31, the ceremony was postponed due to the anthrax threat.

The School of Law has already begun organizing the next Supreme Court swearing-in dates. We have reserved 15 slots for December 10, 2002—an oral argument day, and 50 slots for November 18, 2002—a non-argument day. To reserve a slot, contact Joe Libertelli at 202-274-7338 or jlibertelli@udc.edu.