A Meaningful Opportunity to be Heard
A Journey through the Eye of the Hurricane
A few weeks ago, I finished the marathon that is the first year of law school (1L). Waiting at the finish line were an array of well-meaning-but-loaded questions from friends and family: “How was 1L?”, “What kind of law will you practice?”, and especially “What has it felt like to study at Columbia University this year?” Now that I’ve at least somewhat caught my breath, I’ll share what I’ve processed so far:
In October, I carved out a few Saturdays to go doorknocking in Pennsylvania for the Harris-Walz campaign. Her candidacy was announced during my last weeks working in the White House Complex, and despite endless 1L readings, I felt restless sitting on the sidelines. Many door-knocks went unanswered, some doors opened were quickly closed, but those who engaged shared grave concerns about their community and country.
On Election Day I conducted exit polling in Queens for a voting rights organization, and tried to stay optimistic despite what the responses were telling me. When the result became obvious just a few hours later, my immediate reaction was escapism. “Good thing I’m in law school for a few years,” I thought. “I can live in my casebooks and unplug from podcasts, late-night shows, and the news circus.”
Looking back, I quite physically tried to escape too. In December and January, I sauntered around Spain and Portugal with college friends. In February, I went to Helsinki, Finland for a European Law competition. In March, I went to Guatemala for spring break to climb volcanoes and dive into lakes. As my country count hit 30, I seriously considered working abroad this summer as well.
But after January, the news quickly became much more than distant headlines. Close friends and former colleagues who were civil servants – some of the hardest-working people I’ll ever meet – lost their jobs.1 Federal agencies I had worked with on improving disaster relief or public health research were at threat of being disbanded altogether.2 Law firms that recruit from my school became targets for having lawyers or clients averse to the new Administration.3
Soon enough, my campus was in the eye of the hurricane. Columbia students like Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful resident who led peaceful protests, were detained on legal grounds that are, to put it mildly, hard to believe.4 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) trucks roamed around campus, stoking constant fear. International classmates became scared to travel, for fear their visas would not be honored upon return. Most pointedly, the Administration threatened to cut $400 million in federal funding to Columbia if it did not comply with a list of demands (and unfortunately, Columbia agreed).5 Campus life became helicopters, protests, security screenings — escapism was no longer an option.
Perhaps the most foundational (and feared) course of law school is Civil Procedure: the lawyer’s law. Unlike other doctrinal courses, Civil Procedure revolves around a set of rules, and so I came in quite nervous (my forte is not classes where an answer can be truly “wrong”).
On our first day of class – and the second day of the new Administration – our professor started off with a concept fundamental to the American legal system. Enshrined in the Bill of Rights6 is a requirement for due process, which has been defined as a meaningful opportunity to be heard,7 before the deprivation of life, liberty, or property. Though a familiar concept, this framing immediately caught my attention. What does it mean to be heard? Who deserves this opportunity? How do we know it's meaningful? How much process is really due?
As the semester continued, the new Administration’s actions kept bringing me back to these questions. How much process is due to Federal employees who are removed with little notice or cause? To a university that is extorted for fear of losing federal funding, much of which went to vital medical research?8 To a student who may be deported simply for exercising their right to free speech?
Armed with just a year of law, I can safely say this: due process is a spectrum. Too much process, and nothing gets done.9 Too little process, and our freedoms and rights are nothing more than words on parchment paper. Moral outrage is tempting, but ultimately we choose where we fall on this spectrum. The new Administration openly wants to move us much farther from process,10 but as I see the world around me, I fundamentally believe there must be a better balance.
All this might be a long-winded way of saying that I’ve learned more this year at Columbia than I could have imagined. After three years in rigorous work environments, I’ve soaked up every opportunity to engage new ideas in classes, events, and late-night conversations. Somewhere between study sessions and celebrations, classmates have become close friends. I have found pride in Columbia – not in its leadership, but in its students and faculty who speak out against injustice in the world.
Ingrained in me is the immigrant mentality to not cause ripples. My friends and family know my political views, but I don’t tend to pontificate on social media. But as I’ve learned this year, the practice of law is what you make of it. It can be a tool to earn money. It can be an extra credential on your resume. It can be a skillset to approach future endeavors. At its core, however, the law is about how we shape and reshape our society by drawing the boundaries of justice.
So what will my practice of law be? Luckily I have two more years to answer this question, but at least I know where to start. This summer, I’m lucky to be interning at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a leading environmental advocacy organization that also helps develop and enforce laws to protect our planet and all that rely on it.11 During the upcoming school year, I’ll be working with Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute, which uses strategic litigation to “defend the freedoms of speech and press in the digital age.”12
Law school was never a “must” for me. As my LinkedIn will show, I took a lot of twists and turns before I ended up here. But thank god I did.
The views expressed in this article are solely my own and do not reflect those of any past, present, or future employer.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/27/nx-s1-5311445/federal-employees-firing-court-judge
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/usaid-missions-overseas-ordered-shutdown-by-friday/; https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-wants-states-handle-disasters-113038870.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-orders-target-law-firms-some-lawyers-say-that-threatens-rule-of-law-60-minutes-transcript/
To justify Khalil’s detainment and attempted deportation, the Administration points to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which states that the U.S. government may deport “an alien whose presence and activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable grounds to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/columbia-response-trump-demands.html
The right to Due Process is enshrined in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment. The Fifth Amendment applies to the Federal government, and the Fourteenth Amendment extends this protection to state governments. The Fifth Amendment states that “No person shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”
This formulation became common in mid-20th century Supreme Court jurisprudence, such as in Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254 (1970), and Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371 (1971).
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/nyregion/columbia-research-grants-trump.html
This side of the spectrum has its own challenges. The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 included $42.5 billion dollars to expand internet access in under-served and rural areas. But, at least partially due to the rounds of proposals and approvals needed, 0 communities have actually received the funding so far. https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/04/biden-broadband-program-swing-state-frustrations-00175845
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/04/nx-s1-5386540/during-tv-interview-president-trump-questions-due-process-rights-of-u-s-residents
https://www.nrdc.org/about
https://knightcolumbia.org/page/about-the-knight-institute#:~:text=The%20Knight%20First%20Amendment%20Institute,policy%20advocacy%2C%20and%20public%20education.
Loved reading this!