The trip started with me accidentally waking up at 2 am, getting ready, and walking 10 minutes to an Uber that wasn’t there. After that nonsense, I was able to get 30 minutes of extra sleep, drink a week’s worth of caffeine, and make it to the airport on time. The first day was a combination of excitement and nervousness as I had no idea what to expect. We went to the luxurious Comfort Inn Ballston and I was pleasantly surprised at the 24/7 availability of coffee (it was frequently used). The area around the library was very cool to see, as the capitol and the Supreme Court were under a quarter mile away. Unfortunately, the Madison building looked like a giant gray lego brick.

An example of Blackmun’s writing, giving Brennan a C+ on his opinion.

The first day of research was tough, as I realized how difficult reading the handwriting of the justices was and how much information I would have to go through. Blackmun’s writing took about 15 minutes to piece together a single page. Luckily, other justices (like John Paul Stevens) had more legible writing. It took some work, but eventually, I could go through the files quicker and I learned the shorthand that the justices used.

The highlight of my research so far was seeing the mail the justices received about the cases. Hugo Black got the most, with the majority of his mail being from angry religious southerners who wanted to remind Black that “you will soon stand before a Judge much greater than yourself who uses his law to decide your fate.” About 90% of the mail I saw was negative and criticized the members of the Court. I was surprised at how many people had enough time and care to send letters to Supreme Court justices. My favorite thing I saw was the letter asking for the reversal of cases that upheld the “wall of separation” between church and state.