My trip to Washington!

So recently I went to Washington D.C. to look more closely at our government. The main purpose was to go and see oral arguments at the Supreme Court, but we also went and saw the Senate too. So on Monday afternoon, my dad and I flew out of Logon and went to Reagan International Airport in Washington. After arriving, we took a taxi and checked into our hotel. After eating dinner and watching "White House Down", we went to sleep anxious to see the Senate the next day.

The second day was the Senate and Capitol day. Early in the morning, we enter the Capitol Building for out tour. While seeing the Capitol was fun, and interesting, our tour guide was awful, and I didn't learn much. After the tour however, was great. We went and saw the Senate gallery, which was mainly debating ENDA, the Employment Non - Discrimination Act. Seeing the people that represent us talk about this issue, and how the senate ran and operated was a eye opening experience. I would suggest that anyone go and see this sometime in their life, as it is a great learning experience about the people that ultimately control our daily lives.

After leaving the Senate, we went to the Spy museum. While it was fun and interesting, not much notable details happened.

The third day was Supreme Court day. We woke up early, and ate breakfast. With a pit of excitement in our gut, we took a taxi to the Supreme Court. After entering through an obscure side entrance, we made our way to the Marshall's offices. After going through one last security clearance, we made it to the courtroom to here oral argument on The Town of Greece v. Galloway. An more in depth update of the details of what happened during the arguments will come out tomorrow. But the case was about how a town, Greece, has a prayer before each session of a town meeting. For 6 years, these prayers were all of Christian belief, and due to uproar, the last couple years have had one or two non-Christian prayers. Susan Galloway believes that by making all the prayers at a government meeting one religion, this is breaking the Establishment Clause. This clause states in the First Amendment to the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...". Galloway argues that the town is establishing Christianity as their religion, which would be a breach of this. Oral arguments lasted for an hour, at which point we departed for lunch. After eating, we returned for our semi-private tour of the court. We saw areas that aren't available to the public, like the library, and the meeting rooms. After the tour, we went back to the hotel and I did homework, and my dad worked. So the rest of the afternoon was uneventful. We flew back at 6:30, and it concluded once of the best trips of my life. Seeing the court was one of the coolest things I've seen in my life, and one I will never forget.