Yale 250 feedback? Forum

[Anonymous User]

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[pretzeltime]

Hmm. This is okay.

My completely uninformed take:

If you're going to write about law-related issues in your PS or 250 you gotta knock that shit way out of the park. You're going to have Yale law profs reading this, and I do not think you have suggested something that they have never thought about, or provided a particularly unique take on it.

I've read a lot of 250s where people demonstrate their expertise (or extensive familiarity) with a subject outside of the law. I think that works a bit better because the law profs reading it may not be experts in the subject or may enjoy learning more about it. I'm thinking people who write about science, economics, music, philosophy, etc. I think it's easier to project confidence in your expertise on something when you're not trying to write in the legal field, in which these profs are exponentially more equipped than any 0L.

If you're super into SCOTUS and want to write about it, I would chose a more narrow topic. Like one teeny tiny unheard of case in the 1960s that you've come across that you think had XYZ really interesting implications. The SCOTUS topic you're covering is a little too broad to do it justice with 250 words.

Again, I am in no position to give advice but that's my take.

And by the way, you clearly are a solid writer, it's not that I thought this draft was badly written.

[SamuelDanforth]

I'm no expert on 250s (although I think mine was at least decent, as my numbers were low for YLS), so don't live and die by this advice!

1. Contrary to what you might think, 250s about law, especially substantive legal questions, are very difficult to write well. Three faculty will be reading this (you hope), and they'd better be very impressed with your legal analysis, especially if they don't agree with your analysis. Given that a longstanding joke about YLS is that it's a "cult to the 14th amendment with a registrar's office attached", I'd want to be VERY clear in my critique of the SC given that faculty will be reading it with a sceptical eye. If you want my harsh opinion, this doesn't tell me anything more than a Friedman or Waldron paper abstract would, and probably tells me much less.

2. Perhaps more importantly, this doesn't tell me anything about YOU. Why are you interested in the representative nature of the SC? How has your thinking changed over time? I think good 250 word essays -- even those focused on law -- reveal something about the writer, and not just the subject.

I hope that's even slightly helpful.

Edit: Beaten to my point by the above!

[theconsigliere]

Since my PS is fairly personal, I thought my Yale 250 could shed some light on my interest in the Supreme Court as a political institution. I have written multiple research papers and will be writing an honors thesis on this subject, so I feel like it makes sense to talk about it a bit. However, I am concerned about the clarity of what I have written. Any feedback would be really appreciated.

Word count: 249.

Over the last century, the Supreme Court has demonstrated an increasing willingness to initiate social change. The Court mandated the racial desegregation of schools, abolished (and reinstated) the death penalty, and effectively legalized abortion and same-sex marriage. Some scholars (most notably Barry Friedman) have noted that these decisions have largely aligned with public opinion, but that does not necessarily make the Court’s behavior appropriate. After all, it seems anti-democratic for an unelected body of nine people to settle important political questions.
However, some evidence suggests that Supreme Court justices are accountable to the public. For instance, after the Court abolished the death penalty in Furman v. Georgia, there was enormous backlash against the decision, and the Court soon reinstated the death penalty. Similarly, after pro-life activists mobilized the public against Roe v. Wade, the Court began to grant states increasing leeway in restricting abortion. Empirical studies by Epstein and Martin further support the conclusion that, when the Court strays too far from what the public deems acceptable, it quickly reins itself in.
Why does the Court seem to follow public opinion? Its lack of enforcement power may be the answer. Justices might be concerned that, if popular sentiment allowed elected officials to defy the Court with impunity, a dangerous precedent would be set. However, since there is no way to empirically test this theory, we cannot reliably determine whether the Court is actually democratically accountable or whether it simply happens to agree with the public most of the time.

I think it reads a lot like an abstract because of the references to published works. Clearly you know a lot about this topic. If I were an adcom (which I am not and so maybe this is just wrong) I'd prefer to read a 250 about your thoughts/opinions on this topic rather than this, which reads more like a summary of a chapter out of a textbook. You've written on this topic extensively, so I assume you have an opinion on whether the court is accountable to the public or not?

other things:

I think the phrase "actually democratically accountable" is clunky - so many syllables in just three words

idk why but I get bothered by excessive parentheses and I have a strong desire to change your sentence to: "Some scholars - most notably Barry Friedman - have noted...

e: I got beaten twice

2nd e: if the first three people to comment said the same thing then...

[CFC1524]

If you're going to write about law-related issues in your PS or 250 you gotta knock that shit way out of the park. You're going to have Yale law profs reading this, and I do not think you have suggested something that they have never thought about, or provided a particularly unique take on it.

If you want my harsh opinion, this doesn't tell me anything more than a Friedman or Waldron paper abstract would, and probably tells me much less.

I'd prefer to read a 250 about your thoughts/opinions on this topic rather than this, which reads more like a summary of a chapter out of a textbook.

And by the way, you clearly are a solid writer, it's not that I thought this draft was badly written.

[bgt1995]

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[bgt1995]

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