Destini Hampton –
The Tennessee YMCA Youth in Government Conference is not all about presenting and passing bills. We also have lawyers fighting for cases. I was fortunate enough to interview one of the lawyer teams. I met with Domonique Woods (DW) and John Morris (JM) to learn more about them and their position.
DH: State your grade, school, and position.
DW: I am a senior, I go to Lookout Valley Middle/High School, and I am a lawyer in the Supreme Court.
JM: I’m also a senior at Lookout Valley High School and I am also a lawyer in the Supreme Court.
DH: Have you guys done YIG before?
DW: Yes, this is my second year doing YIG; I did YIG my sophomore year.
JM: Yes, this is my fourth and final year.
DH: Alright, can you guys explain what you do in the Supreme Court?
DW: [In] the lawyer position you basically argue a case, whether you are an appellee or appellant and the Supreme Court Justices decide on the case.
JM: We basically argue the same case for about fourteen rounds. We argue both sides against two different teams … arguing using different pieces of case law to determine and help convince the Justices that this side is more correct, whether that is the appellant or the appellee.
DH: Why did you guys choose to be on the Supreme Court?
JM: I always wanted to do lawyer just because it was sort of something I got dragged into by someone who graduated a long time ago, but they encouraged me to do this because they were one of the justices when they went to my school. So, I joined and now I’ve just been doing it for a really long time.
DW: Well, my sophomore year was my first year of doing YIG and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do a bill or some other component, and I was convinced by someone in my grade that year to do it along with him, and this is my second time doing it with him.
DH: What is your favorite part of YIG so far?
DW: My favorite part of YIG would have to be feeling like little adults just walking around Nashville, completing all these things that people in our government do.
JM: Yeah, it’s always nice to go around Nashville in a much more relaxed state and do things that are actually enjoyable and being places that you normally don’t get to be.
DH: Have you guys argued a case yet? If you did, how did it go?
DM: We did already do our part of the argument. We represented the appellee side and, luckily for us, we won our case.
JM: There were some comments the Justices made that we needed to improve on; there are certain pieces of case law we should probably expand on more that we cited. But overall, we won our case really well.
DH: What do you guys think is the real world significance of your position?
DM: I feel like being a part of YIG gives you insight into what actually goes on in our government, and a lot of the people who participate in YIG will go on to help Tennessee and make big changes in the world, and this is just a stepping stone to get them there.
JM: And, to kind of expand on that, even if the students here don’t go into government or law, or any form of it, it’s a good way to give them experience to know how everything works, to get them to see how the government functions and see how it would move on.
DH: Thank you guys for your time, good luck on your future cases.
Department of Public Information 