First day of Constitutional Law, of course we start with Marbury v. Madison. And the professor takes roll and jumps right into it, rather then spend the first 40 minutes of class outlining attendance policies, participation, his resume, and our lineage.
After 45 minutes of explaining the history of the Constitution, starting with the Magna Carta, passing right through the Article of Confederation, touching on Federalism, Jefferson, and the rest, he gets to the real story, of how Adams lost the election and before Jefferson could be sworn in had his secretary of state who is also the Chief Justice make some radical changes to the federal court system and pack it full of croneys. Of course, the Chief Justice’s brother who is supposed to deliver the news to these people rode his horse all night but only managed to deliver 30 of the 47 commissions. And so I’m not going to lecture all day, let’s have someone in the class explain…Mr. Meathook can you tell us what happened?
[wait , did he just call on me?]
“Is Mr. Meathook here?”
“Uh, yeah, just a sec, well, he sued, and we have Marbury v. Madison.”
“Yes, can you tell us what happened?”
“Uh, what?”
…anyway, I drew a total blank, not even knowing what the hell he was asking for, so I punted. “I’m sorry, I don’t think I’m ready for this on Day #1.”
…so he called on the guy in front of me who managed to stutter his way through.
So much for sitting in the professor’s blind spot.