I would have loved more time in the breakout rooms--this is a HUGE topic, and I think we had a hard time not feeling rushed. Appreciate how much feedback is taken seriously overall, though!
Great class today. I liked Anthony's insights on the process of the grand jury. I didn't know the mechanics for how subpoena power was obtained. I liked Gaia's reflections too
I agree that more time in the breakouts would be good. Also possibly some time without any of the teaching team. Maybe the teaching team joins to get us going, then leave after a bit?
Our breakout room didn't have time to let everyone speak, and I felt like I had many things that I wanted to say but couldnt due to timing. If we want to keep the breakout rooms short it would be good to make them smaller
One idea for future: maybe invite John Gleeson to talk about grand jury? He teaches Complex Federal Investigations at HLS and is notoriously thoughtful about these issues.
I really liked today's format - intro comments, half hour breakout rooms, half hour large group discussion. As always, Anthony came through with great background info
i think that the grand jury discussion is an important one but unfortunately it doesn’t cure the wrongs built into the system that some of us believe exists (excessive prosecutorial power, unfair plea bargaining system, etc.). Also i’m not sure Ms. Taylor’s case is the best one to really discuss the grand jury because 1. i think the real issue is with prosecutors over charging 2. the facts around that case are somewhat muddy and there has been a lot of what i would consider misinformation spread out on it. Either way, great discussion.
I wish more people offered ideas of how to reform the grand jury and not speak as much to how bad it is. We all noticed in this case how bad it worked out, but there can either be a showing of how to reform or where it also worked.
I think there was too much time in the break out room and not enough time on threads. Also, there is no point in having us in a breakout room if there is not a TA there to push the conversation along, everyone will just sit there silently.
@polaris, I appreciate your opinion and agree that one way to move forward is to abolish. I imagine that there are many other opinions as well and would love to hear them too.
@Chulak I disagree. For a topic of this magnitude, I found the breakout rooms a much better forum for discussion compared to threads. Especially since we were covering a lot of the historical background.
@Centaurus, I agree! I would love to hear more opinions on how to reform. I just meant that talking about the flaws still contributes to a productive conversation.
I feel like because the Breonna Taylor case is such a hot button, emotional part of the zeitgeist, it makes it hard to have a substantive, law-based discussion surrounding it. I'm not saying anyone is super in favor of how things went, but there is just no way to try to cover grand jury, prosecutorial discretion, and the actual potential manslaughter charges in a balanced way. I get the response to this will be "there is no balance, it's just murder" and I feel like that's the exact issue we run into discussing this material