Dear 1L: Feeling Lost in ConLaw

Dear 1L, From Day 1, I was lost in Con Law. Out of my league.

At my school, there were 2 camps of people. In one were the PoliSci/Gov. majors. And their friends: the read-multiple-newspapers-every-day types.

They assembled in the library lounge to read the library’s hard-copy subscriptions each afternoon. And they blathered on about politics.

In the other camp were people like me. We had no relevant major. East Asian Studies/Japanese would not help me now.

I also didn’t read a newspaper every day (despite my father’s long-time pleas). I read Cosmo. Maybe Tennis Magazine.

Worse still, in class, our professor talked ONLY about politics. I didn’t know the players. I had never heard of most issues.

It’s sort of embarrassing, in retrospect. But I was just a kid. 23. Sure, I was responsible and smart. I did well in school. But fun, for me, was NOT reading the newspaper.

What saved me? The Constitution.
I kid you not. Read it. It is short.
Type it. Every word. Type every Amendment, too.

As you know, there are three branches.
Each with different powers.
Overlapping, checking, interfering.
Lots of different moving parts.

It’s so much easier to get a handle on where the powers rest—which branch can do which things—when you can visualize the moving parts. You need to really see them in your mind, or on the page, to keep track of things.

But to be able to do so, you need to make the text of the Constitution “your own.”
You need to know it cold. Back and forth.
Inside and out.

This task is not onerous.
The Constitution is surprisingly short.
You can highlight and circle. You can have different font colors.

The Constitution shouldn’t be some big, scary document.
Make it your own.
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You don’t need to know politics.
Know the Constitution.
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In the end, the Constitution saved me.

The other camp?

Not so much.

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Fondly,
💌 Amanda

P.P.S. Lawyers, 2Ls & 3Ls: What tips do you have for 1Ls starting out in Con Law? Do you remember your 1L Con Law experience?