Three Notre Dame students, Kevin Bizily ‘28, Scarlett Powell ‘28, and John Vranas ‘27, engaged in national and international judicial and executive work this past summer with the financial support of the Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government. Through conducting case studies, writing in Presidential offices, and pouring over court cases, Bizily, Powell, and Vranas opened their eyes to new possibilities, and now can share those lessons and memories.
Kevin Bizily
Hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Kevin Bizily is a rising junior in Stanford Hall. He is earning a major in the Program of Liberal Studies (PLS) and minors in Constitutional Studies, the Glynn Honors Program, and History. He also hopes to complete a supplemental major in Classics. At the CCCG, Bizily is a Tocqueville Fellow and a Writing Fellow. He serves as President of Undergraduate Moot Court, which compete in mock Supreme Court arguments, and as Deputy Grand Knight with the Knights of Columbus. This fall, he is a Teaching Assistant for Rev. Bill Dailey, C.S.C.’s class: Jurisprudence and the U.S. Constitution.
After attending a CCCG luncheon with Judge Amul Thapar of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Bizily took to heart Judge Thapar’s advice “to take risks and pursue available opportunities, even if the odds don’t look good.” The very next day, he attended office hours with Judge Thapar and left with an internship position. His interest in litigation stemmed from a high school internship under Judge David Stras (United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit), which helped him discern a prospective career in appellate work.
Under Judge Thapar, Bizily participated in all aspects of the office, proofreading and editing as well drafting memos and preparing cases. He also assisted with Judge Thapar’s work on the committees of the Judicial Conference. During his time, Bizily was struck the most by “the importance of clerkships and mentorship from judges” for younger attorneys and legislators. In a career path marked by changes, moves, and unpredictable twists, relationship established itself as the most valuable lesson.
Using these experiences, Bizily plans to “clerk in the appeals courts–maybe even for the Supreme Court–before practicing as a litigator.” He looks forward to leading undergraduate moot court this year, planning share the skills he has gained with his team and his peers at Notre Dame.
Scarlett Powell ‘28
Scarlett Powell is a junior Biology major living in Flaherty Hall. Her interests lie specifically in mammalogy and zoology and how animals interact with the human world. In addition to participating in the Tocqueville Fellows program, Powell is a member of the Notre Dame Synchronized Skating Team and an Accessibility Leader Fellow. A dual citizen of the United States and Poland, Powell had the opportunity to travel to Grudziadz, Poland, this past summer to perform a legal case study with District Court Judge Anna Madeja.
Powell combined her interests in biology and law to “dissect really every single article” the Polish legal system has published regarding animal cruelty and all the animal law cases that form the current Polish legislation. Powell and Judge Madeja would sit together for hours to analyze patterns and discuss the reasons and unique aspects of each bit of legislation.
This process not only allowed Powell to unlock an entirely new vocabulary in the Polish language, but it also aided in her discernment of her future as a biologist or attorney. Before the case study, Powell had felt torn between the two careers, finding a calling in both. The summer work, made possible by the CCCG, gave her much needed clarity. As Ms. Powell returns to campus this fall, she hopes to apply the patterns and legislative language she learned during her internship in her future career in parasitics.
John Vranas
John Vranas, a rising senior from Lamont, Illinois, lives in Baumer Hall and is pursuing his degree in Political Science, minoring in Glynn Honors Program, Constitutional Studies, and Theology. He serves the ND community as President of the Notre Dame Mock Trial Team and President of the Notre Dame Orthodox Christian Fellowship. During his sophomore year, Vranas participated in the College of Arts and Letters Washington Program working under Senator Todd Young (IN). His time in DC, “so close to the action,” inspired Vranas to apply for the White House Internship Program.
Upon making it past several rigorous rounds of interviewing and background checks, Vranas began at the White House in the Office of Presidential Correspondence, with the financial backing of the CCCG. Within this office, he worked in the Agency Liaison Office, specifically assigning letters from the population to different committees and departments in order to ensure the citizens’ issues could be addressed adequately. After serving a while there, he was transferred to the Writers’ Division.
In this post, Vranas wrote to constituents ranging from war veterans to families struggling through tragedy on behalf of the President. The chance to “see the President’s words go to people and knowing that I was the one who drafted that up was an incredible honor.” Not only did this experience allow Vranas to establish close relationships with constituents, but he also seized the opportunity to get an “insider’s look” into how individuals in the Department of Justice and the White House end up in these specific careers. Vranas was especially grateful for the much more intimate Executive Branch office environment than Capitol Hill.
Vranas holds a “deep desire” to serve the public eventually in the Department of Justice. As Vranas comes back to Notre Dame, he’s excited to replicate the functionality he saw in the White House offices and to share his appreciation for all the work that occurs in DC that usually goes unnoticed by the public.
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