The Supreme Court Seminar trip began with an early morning arrival at DFW Airport to head to DC on a 7:00 am flight. When we arrived in DC, we were met with the newly in season Cherry Blossoms, and windy 40 degree weather. The day was spent riding the metro, and a cold twenty minute walk, to the luxurious Ballston Comfort-Inn in Arlington, Virginia. Once we arrived and had time to unpack, we once again got onto the metro to make our way to the large marble Maddison building of the Library of Congress system. At the Madison building we received our reading room cards, making each of us official scholarly researchers — these cards would be our access to the Justice Papers to complete our important research.

After we picked-up our cards and met the head librarian – Bruce – we toured the Library of Congress main reading room which was an amazing experience. Walking beneath the rotunda amongst thousands of books – every book published in the United States – was an unforgettable experience. One interesting thing about the Library of Congress main reading room, was that they had pamphlets which discussed the eight areas of knowledge Thomas Jefferson believed in, and statues of important figures which highlighted the respective areas.