York County Bar Announces 2024 Law Day Honorees
Law Day 2024 in York County included a celebratory luncheon held at the Valencia Ballroom at 12 noon on Wednesday, May 1. The theme for Law Day 2024 is “Voices of Democracy.”
Highlights of the event included featured speaker Dickinson College’s 30th President, Judge John E. Jones lll who is a former chief judge of the United States Middle District Court of Pennsylvania, the presentation of the Liberty Bell Award, announcement of the winners of the essay and billboard design contests, and presentation of awards to the Mock Trial first and second place teams. The luncheon and programs were organized by a committee of the York County Bar Foundation, Co-Chaired by Attorneys Jennifer A. Galloway and Kanika D. Henderson.
President Judge Maria Musti Cook, Co-Chair of the Liberty Bell Award Selection Committee with prior recipient Rev. Aaron Anderson presented the 2024 Liberty Bell Award to Pastor Bill Kerney, President of the Black Ministers Association of York County, for his work in helping launch the Chiefs & Clergy Partnership in 2016, serving faithfully on the Board of the York County Safety Collab, and building bridges between communities of color and law enforcement. This award honors a non-attorney volunteer in the York community who has encouraged others to respect the laws and legal system, to learn more about and take an active role in the American justice system, and to take pride in our nation’s system of freedom for all under the law. View list of prior honorees at www.yorkbar.com.
Attorney Andrea Fitzsimmons recognized York County’s two top Mock Trial Teams, First Place, Spring Grove Area High School (Team 1): Kaitlyn Edwards, Ava German, Hadley Lamb, John Reilly, Mallory Snyder,
Charles Stewart, Kathryn Wyrick, Teacher Coach Jason Baker, and Attorney Coach Jack L. Graybill ll
Second Place: Northern York County High School: Lisa Alizada, Ewan Clark, Joe Coyne, Abby Freese, Hannah Freese, Anna Hondorf, Stanley Kocon, Hannah Lusk, Colin Snyder, Betiel Tekeste, Savannah Thomson, Caden Williamson, Teacher Coach David Ramsey, and Attorney Coach Heidi R. Freese
Attorneys Jennifer Galloway and Suzanne Griest made presentations to the winners of the Billboard Contest (Grades 6-8) and Essay Contest for York County High School students.
The premise for the Billboard Contest is to depict the Law Day theme through art with the winning design made into a billboard which will be displayed for the month of May. Nearly 100 designs were submitted. Billboard Contest Award Recipients: 1st Place Elliott Koller, Dallastown Middle School, GR 8; 2nd Place Piper Klinedinst, Dallastown Middle School, GR 8; 3rd Place Emma Brown, Dallastown Middle School, GR 8
The Essay Contest encourages young people to give thought to current social and legal issues and to express their views on the issues. Essay topics included:
- The Constitution divides the Government into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial to establish a balance of powers. Do you believe the balance of powers exists today? Explain and give examples to support your view.
- Why is civic participation by citizens important in a constitutional democracy? Evaluate how being actively engaged in the political process helps preserve and influence our system of constitutional government.
- Which has been most influential in shaping democracy throughout history: social groups, institutions, or individual leaders? Make an argument for which you believe has had the biggest impact on expanding civic participation, incorporating diverse voices, and preserving democracy via individual or collective behaviors.
- A partisan gerrymander is a district map—for Congress, or for a state legislature, county commission, and the like—that is intentionally designed to enhance the power of one political party at the expense of the other, regardless of how the people of the jurisdiction may choose to vote in a given election. Democracy is about every voice contributing. How can we combat gerrymandering to ensure a fair election?
A partisan gerrymander is a district map – for congress, or for a state legislature, county commission, and the like – that is intentionally designed to enhance the power of one political party at the expense of the other, regardless of how the people of the jurisdiction may choose to vote in a given election. Democracy is about every voice contributing. How can we combat gerrymandering to ensure a fair election?
By Evan Zumbrum, Grade 12, Spring Grove Area High School2023 Essay Contest Winner
When an election becomes a game of tactical map drawing rather than a fair vote, the citizens of the nation must become concerned for the future of the democracy in their country. This sort of conspiracy is not only happening in the world today, it is happening in the United States of America, a nation that has prided itself on being a land where its citizens have a say in how their country is run. No matter what side of the political aisle someone is, no one can say that it is morally right to alter district territory in an attempt to discount the value of one’s vote. Are the elections that you are taking part in already decided? Have citizens been grouped and separated by political ideologies, strategically placed into the same district to ensure the results of an election turn out the way that the designer had planned? Gerrymandering must be combated, and it can be by regulating the configuration of districts in every state, across the country.
Both prominent political parties have been accused of gerrymandering district maps of their state, more than once, those accusations were taken to the United States Supreme Court. But the Court has found that its hands are tied when it comes to the issue of gerrymandering. In 2019, the United States Supreme Court decided in Rucho v. Common Cause that it did not have the ability to rule whether or not a state drew its districts to unlawfully favor one political ideology over another, due to the fact that there is no concrete standard by which to evaluate the district maps created by each state. If there is no precise standard, a standard must be established.
This “rubric” for redrawing the district map must be detailed and specific, giving the court system a definitive way to decide when a map has been gerrymandered. One potential way to do this is to find the geographical center of every state and, using a computer program, include the closest ideal number of people to that center, in that first district. Then, starting at the 12 o’clock position, make each new district out of the closest ideal number of people in each direction, working in a clockwise manner. This is just one way to modulate the redrawing of districts in each state, and give the judicial system a definitive way to search for unlawful redrawing of districts in each state, and give the judicial system a definitive way to search for unlawful redrawing of districts.
To conclude, the justice system can only combat gerrymandering if a standard for redrawing districts is created. If all parties would focus on creating a precise standard by which to redraw district maps rather than treating the issue as an afterthought, prioritizing other (more disputed) topics, then this country could end unlawful redistricting and promote fair elections. The citizens of every state deserve to have an equal voice in how their nation is run, and gerrymandering is not only a threat to honest elections, it is also a weapon that is used against the value of every vote.
Ashley Leary
she/her/hers
Director of Communications and Public Support
YORK COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION/YORK COUNTY BAR FOUNDATION
137 East Market Street, York, PA 17401
ashley.leary@yorkbar.com
Office: 717-854-8755x201
