George Washington Fellows at Saint Vincent College take in-depth look at U.S. Supreme Court

LATROBE, PA – Recent decisions by the United States Supreme Court came under fire during the latest presidential election cycle and the makeup and direction of the Court will remain hot-button topics. Inspired by these historic events, two Saint Vincent College students have launched deep-dive examinations of the Court through their participation in the George Washington Fellowship program.

Alicia Boretti, a junior from Crofton, Maryland, who is majoring in political science and theology, is looking at the issue of overturning precedent in Supreme Court decisions. Jacob Mock, a senior political science major from Butler, is exploring substantive due process—the principle that protects fundamental rights from government interference.

“I took a constitutional law class in the spring 2024 semester with Dr. Jason Jividen, but there's only so much you can do in one semester,” Boretti said. “There’s so much more there that I wanted to invest some time in. That's what drew me to this fellowship opportunity.”

Saint Vincent’s George Washington Fellowship is an independent, advanced-studies research program sponsored by the Center for Political and Economic Thought (CPET) in the Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics and Government.

Each academic year, two or three students—the program is open to sophomores, juniors and seniors—are selected for the fellowship. The students choose a topic related to citizenship in the United States, such as constitutional law, international relations, comparative politics, American government or political philosophy. In addition to conducting research, they attend a regional or national political science conference and have the option of presenting their work at Saint Vincent’s annual Academic Conference.

“The Fellowship is our flagship program,” said Jividen, Philip M. McKenna Chair in American and Western Political Thought and co-director of the CPET. “Most of the students who are GW fellows go to either law school or graduate school. There's no formal paper. It's thinking for its own sake.”

Once a month, the students review their research during a roundtable discussion with Jividen; Dr. Jacob Boros, C’16, assistant professor of political science; Dr. Jerome Foss, professor of political science and Endowed Professor of Catholic Thought and Culture; and Dr. Mary Beth McConahey, C’04, assistant director of the CPET.

“The George Washington Fellowship Program is a great way to make already good students even better,” Mock said. “It's interesting to interact with the professors outside of class. They know all about the topics you're researching, and they challenge you to dig deeper and do your best.”

Boretti and Mock’s projects address similar ideas but are taking different approaches.

“It wasn’t planned that way,” Jividen said. “It’s just sort of how their interests lined up.”

Mock is researching the history of the due process rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, which have been interpreted to include the right to marry and legalized abortion.

“The modern Supreme Court has started to push back against substantive due process in certain decisions,” Mock said. “I’m trying to trace that and see where it might go. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has said we have to reevaluate all previous precedent—pretty much everything is on the table. I want to see where that goes and how that will impact the ideas of federalism, states’ rights and separation of powers.”

Boretti’s research into overturning precedent is timely considering the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that reversed Roe v. Wade and ended the federal right to abortion. Boretti is studying the writings of Justice Antonin Scalia, particularly his dissent in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey case that reaffirmed Roe.

“In his dissent, he talks about how the justices should not focus on public opinion [when making a decision] because that’s not in the realm of their role in government,” Boretti said. “There’s lot of great material to unpack there.”