Two CSLR students to clerk for Supreme Court of Israel this summer
By Patti Ghezzi | Emory Law | Mar 24, 2016 12:03:00 AM
Amin Sadri (JD 2016) and Kurtis Anderson (JD 2017) will serve as foreign law clerks at the Supreme Court of Israel this summer.
“They will get incredible exposure to issues of law and religion, international law, military law, and everything a Supreme Court handles,” said Dr. Mark Goldfeder, who recommended both students and hopes more CSLR students can get the opportunity in the future.
Based in Jerusalem, the Supreme Court of Israel brings professionals from other countries to do comparative law. “You’re working within your legal system, but you’re in a different country,” Sadri said, added that he is excited to work with a court that handles 12,000 cases a year, including cases of religious law, and routinely disagrees with the government.
He enjoys visiting Israel for its diversity and example of religious tolerance. “You have Jews, Bahá’ís, Muslims, all interacting in a religious yet secular society,” said Sadri, who is Bahá’í. “Israel has a strong religious grounding, but it is still so secular.”
Both students have worked with the American Center for Law and Justice on issues related to Israel. They worked on a memo for the International Criminal Court defending Israel’s rights, arguing that the principle of “complementarity” precludes an ICC investigation of Israel.
The work motivated Anderson to seek the clerkship in Israel. “There is no better place to go,” Anderson said, “than right to the heart of it all.”