Negotiations and managing the tightrope

Sometimes in university you’ll be stuck in an award situation with someone who has a higher authority than you. That is a very awkward situation and knowing what to do can be next to impossible. I’ve run through some scenarios below that will hopefully help you out of your next tight spot!

1.      You get a bad grade

Of course this will happen to every university student at some point and the important thing is how you handle it.

The first step should always be to take some time out. This can be a very emotional result for someone, especially if you worked really hard on the project. Try to give yourself some time to process the result and calm down. It is always best to be well rested and level headed when you consider a bad grade. If you can invite over someone supportive to help you with the next step.

The second step is to evaluate yourself. Self evaluation is critical to ensuring that the mistake won’t occur again. Overall this step can be very difficult but if you’ve followed through with the planning methods and tracking your progress it may be easy to see if there was a lapse in your preparation. Another important thing is to get ahold of the markers scheme and rubric and run through the project to see what errors you have missed.

The markers feedback can be a great tool for understanding and interpreting the rubric. Some examiners will point out where you went wrong – and the best ones will supply tips for where you can improve. Don’t be worried about how they think about you, this is a highly automated task and rarely will the examiner have applied any kind individualistic application.

Some critical questions to ask yourself are;

-        Was this explained in the course?

-        Is this information readily available?

-        Is this a subjective opinion?

Planning is essential to surviving a busy
period at work

It is important to consider whether or not the criticism is subjective because if it is that the marker has interpreted an answer or argument the wrong way you may be able to initiate a remark process that would allow you to negotiate for a better result.

However, don’t use this process as a reason to get a remark, that should never be a goal. Always assume that the grade is a fair indication of the work and move forward from there.

The third step is to run through the document and highlight the points where you went wrong. List them out clearly with paragraph or question number references and either rewrite them correctly or write out the question that you would like to ask about them.

Some good questions to ask conveners about a marker’s determination include;

è Source A suggested this, was there another more valid source that disagreed?

è Was it the application of the information that was incorrect or was the basis of the argument wrong?

è How would you improve this answer?

I would strongly advise that you do the majority of planning before you go in to interview with an academic professor or teacher. This is because it is easily to become overwhelmed when teachers begin discussing things with you – especially when they relate to things like your personal grades. The more organized you are the easier it will be to set the boundaries and expectations of the discussion.

Other ways that you can make sure you remain professional and level headed throughout the interview is to bring in a general guide of the things that you want to say.

The best way to do this is to create a simple list flow chart with off shoots;

Example:

Page one issues;

è Para 4, grammar point – how much did this reduce?

è Para 9 – The readings agreed with marker but recent research supported argument (Which valid?)

Page two;

è Spelling is correct Australia – USA marking?

è Why is the diagram wrong? (markers guide not available)

If you run through this it is easy for you to avoid feeling upset about your mark and instead make sure that you get the best possible feedback. After all, it’s very difficult for anyone to help you if you can’t tell them how to help!

Printable available online

To help with the general value of the meeting you can download this printable from fee by following the link, here. This printable will allow you to work with the pace of the speaker – son long as you write in relevant phrases and not everything that they say. The download is not a pdf so you and type it into your laptop for those who struggle to write quickly. But try to fill in the extra questions along the side as this assist your analysis.

If you get through this stage and you still feel that you haven’t had an appropriate redress you can feel very upset, but don’t be perturbed! There is still more that can be done. Check out your student union and ask them about the mark evaluation policy. Take the feedback sheet, your questions and the original assignment with the feedback with it. Ask them if you can have someone else to assess the paper and perhaps help you to understand it. These officers are generally very experienced and will be able to help guide you through the process.

Best of luck – and remember that your grades don’t reflect on you!

Lulu Hensman

EXAM 101 -Anticipating exam questions

Anticipating questions before an exam

Of course making a study plan is also useful -
 but it's figuring out what to put /in/ the plan
that can be hard :)

This is one of the hardest things for many people to prepare for. The exam can seem like an endless swirl of questions that you will have no idea about what might happen or what might be asked. The best advice that anyone can ever give you is to cut down the amount of work that you do. The more work you do the more things that you will know -it sounds a little odd but the truth is you’re never rewarded for knowing everything – you’re rewarded for knowing the right things

The critical component of answering an exam question well, therefore, is to analyze what exactly you will be asked. It is possible to work this out (not as an exact art but as a reasonable probability) through six methods. I will explain these methods below.

A.     Looking at the textbook index

This can be done in the days before exam or (ideally) in the holidays before the teaching period begins. I am sure many people will find this post in the frantic scramble three days before the exam – so I’d recommend you begin here.

To use this method, look at the index of the textbook. Sometimes you’ll strike lucky and find an index that looks like this;

1.      MAIN HEADING

-        Subheading

Ø  Key point

-        Subheading

-        Subheading

2.      MAIN HEADING

If you have this – focus on the main headings and study;

·        The key definition of that heading

·        The overall concept

·        Then the critical components of each subheading

Summarize these in 1-2 pages maximum.

However, if you’re not that lucky and your index is just a list of indistinguishable chapters, use this list as an exam checklist. You should know everything in this checklist – unless you were explicitly told by the teacher that it wouldn’t be on the exam.

Summarize each component of your checklist in 100 words. If you can’t make a short, succinct description of the component you haven’t learned it well enough. 100 words is a very tight description and once you can describe a topic that quickly your brain has synthesized the information so sufficiently that you should be able to answer most questions on that topic. For this summary don’t simply memorize the textbook description, make it in your own words after reading and understanding the information in each chapter. That way you can be certain that you understand how that component works and operates in your education topic.

B.     Look at the structure by which the course was taught

Examiners generally don’t like to repeat elements of the course that they have already examined. So, look at what has already been on your assignments (if you’ve had any) and don’t rehash them in your study. It’s important that you still have a reasonably good understanding but don’t critical re-study them. It’s unlikely that they’ll be focal points of your exam. (There is an exception to this that I will explain later).

Don't forget that changing your scenery
can be the perfect way to hone your focus

That means, usually, anything taught in that second period of the teaching season is 90% more likely to be on the exam. Place extra special focus on these areas and use your drop-in time to ask questions about them You can see why many students find the exam more difficult because they often begin the teaching session with gusto, studying late into the night and perfecting the first 4-6 weeks’ worth of material. However, those last few weeks are e the critical components to the exam and they fall because they burned out and weren’t really prepared for that kind of work.

C.     Look at older practice exams – and exams from similar courses

The common trick is to do practice exams. Many people suggest it – but few realize the utility of practice exams from other universities. While the marking and writing style may be different – don’t think that your professors don’t want to borrow questions from other lecturers. Writing exam questions is hard (particularly if you work in a field like law or politics where the questions must be carefully thought out).

So, borrowing the questions from another institution where you can presume that the student hasn’t tried them is a straightforward way of getting past the difficulty of writing out an exam question. Don’t expect that the question will be the same but you’ll find the structurally similar question with one or two differences. Therefore, make time to practice exams from your institution AND from other institutions. When I was working towards my end of year high school exams I did practice exams from every state in Australia, some from America and some from England. I did this because I knew that if I could master the components of these exams there was no way that I could be surprised in the final exam. The same is true for university and other high school courses. Always be on the lookout for courses that are like yours and try a few of their exam questions. Even if you must learn some new things to be able to answer the questions – it’ll only make you better prepared.

D.     When something unexpected may appear on the exam

There is an exception to all of this – and this is where some of you may run into trouble. If you haven’t been attending or at least listening to recordings of your classes I’d rush through as many of them as I could right now.

My mess of a desk in the midst of study....

When your lecturer spends three or more weeks on the topic – take that as a hint it’s going to be on the exam. They won’t waste time teaching you things if they don’t want it to be a part of the examination at the end. Additionally, if your teacher repeats a phrase, point or source of information you can guarantee that is going to have something to do with the exam. Don’t forget about it just because it’s annoying you or you think it’s an annoying quirk. Chances are they’re deliberately saying this to you because it’s the exact phrase or material they want to refer to in their marking guide.

Examiners have a marking guide which is a lot like an exam checklist. You need to hit every point on that checklist to get the highest mark. It’s a very rare exam where it matters the content of what you’re saying – and not the content that they’re looking for. Remember, the average lecturer has at least 100 students to mark, they don’t have time to base the work of each student on their individual merit. Unfortunately, you must appeal to the criteria they’re looking for.

High Court under the microscope - The Eddie Mabo Case

Mabo v Queensland

This was a 1992 Australian High Court decision that was the first time in Australian history when the native title for the Australian Aboriginal People was recognized. Eddie Mabo brought the case to the high court on behalf of the Meriam People who are from the Mer Islands. This is in the Torres Strait area. The proceedings commenced in in 1982 after the Queensland Amendment Act was initiated.

The act worked to establish a system of land grants by trust for aboriginals and Torres strait islands. However, this system was inept and the mer islanders were unhappy.

The high court eventually received the case and was asked to consider whether indigenous Australians had a just and legal claim to their lands which could overturn the notion of terra nullius. Further the request to the court asserted that it was time for the common law to be ‘put to rights’

The success of the case was difficult to determine and it was largely regarded by the legal field as a mere test. Testing the court is very common as there are multiple complexities that run through the fabric of legal decisions. Issues such as;

·        Political values

·        Social concern

·        Financial constraints

·        Corporation concerns

 The High Court held that the doctrine of terra nullius was void. This doctrine had worked to import all English laws into the Australian country at the time of English colonization. This was done because the indigenous people were originally thought to be ‘uncivilized’ which gave the colonizers the right to claim the land as belonging to the British people.

The court held that the rules of reception that applied were not those that were originally called for but that the existing customary laws which were present at the time of settlement took priority over the imported English law. However, land rights could be extinguished by crown title. Any native title claims which were inconsistent with native title would be extinguished and the crown land would survive.

The decision was made by seven judges in five judgements of the high court;

Ø  Justice Brennan

Ø  Justice Deane

Ø  Justice Gaudron

Ø  Justice Toohey

Ø  Justice Dawson

Ø  Chief Justice Mason

Ø  Justice McHugh

There were several common threads of agreement between the five judgements. The basis of these threads of agreement is that the native title existed due to the nature of the indigenous use and connection to the land and that determined the nature and content of native title. It also rejected the concept of terra nullius and attempted to provide repudiation to those grounds that had lost the benefit of their lands.

The consequences of this decision are most commonly felt by corporations and land developers as they see the most of the native title claims. There is a difficultly in negotiating with many aboriginal groups who claim native title over key development areas. This difficulty is generally solved with skilled negotiators but can take some time.

Making and taking risks at university

University is an awesome time to learn and study but it is also the first time that many of us are striking out on our own and becoming used to being independent. Some students revert into their shells and choose to stick within the expected guidelines of university life. That can work to your advantage as you won’t find much challenge and will get high grades. We all know that academic achievement is a major positive for anyone in a university situation – however it won’t impress employers if you’ve never tried anything challenging. Additionally, university is one of the few times when you’re encouraged to take different learning opportunities.

These opportunities don’t have to be as big as taking a difference course or going overseas, in fact sometimes it’s better if they aren’t. These are all anticipated and expected opportunities. Below are some ideas for was you can introduce yourself to minor risks and get used to the idea that things can go wrong – and you are more than capable of dealing with them!   

Even just a book club can be
a great place to start!

1.      Go to a new activity group

Many freshmen sign up to lots of different clubs at the beginning of first year – but as the year carries on and the stress level increases we drop out. That’s because learning new things is hard and the criticism that comes on along with that can discourage anyone from continuing the struggle of learning something new.

However, in second year when you’re a bit more used to the challenges of university life try to take up a new group. Don’t’ worry if it’s not particularly strenuous -- one of the best groups I ever joined was a university brunch group! All it took was a Sunday morning in a restaurant enjoying some delicious breakfast group.

It can be a risk because too much time spent in groups can take away from your studies. Moreover, it can alter your schedule and leave you open to mismanaging your time. However, if managed well they can make a great talking point for future employment interviews and potentially create unique networking opportunities.

2.      Take up a new hobby

Like a social group hobbies are very popular in the new year and begin to wane as the realities of life and stress get in the way. Realistically, hobbies can represent a bit of a risk to a university student – they are highly enjoyable and can really take away from your studies. Additionally, those with perfectionist tendencies will probably struggle to take up something new.

If you can let go of this fear and explore something different you can totally open yourself up to a whole new variety of talents and advantages. In your future workplace, you may be surprised how miscellaneous knowledge can help add that extra sparkle to your output. While you’re in university it’s worth thinking how a hobby can work into your five-year plan to make sure that you have a competitive edge in the market.

3.      Try a different social group

Social groups or cliques are often satirized in the media as bitchy groups of people. This much is sort of true, exclusivity is the hallmark of any group friendship group – otherwise it’s just a mob. However, cross social groups can provide an extra boost to your widening perspective. Try

socializing with people from diverse cultures, age groups and disciplinary studies.

Additionally, the information that you gain from these new perspectives can be translated into your academic career. Providing extra information or criticism, when done properly, can boost your grade up a percentile.

4.      Work experience in a different industry area

Similar to learning new perspectives through others learning the practices of another industry can provide you with an advantage both in your academic pursuits and to a future employer. For example, a law student working in a retail area or an accounting area can have a broader and applicable knowledge when working in tax law or corporate law. The advantages to broader perspectives and knowledge are many. While they may take time from your studies or be an imperfect venture into something unknown the payoff is far greater than the risk!

THE COURT UNDER THE MICROSCOPE; BM V R [2017] NSWCCA 133

THE COURT UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

BM V R [2017] NSWCCA 133 – Before; Basten JA, Adamson and Campbell JJ.

On 15 Feb 2016 the DPP presented to the court an indictment against the charged on four counts.

1.      Indecent assault

2.      Multiple counts of indecency

3.      Sexual intercourse (with an underaged person)

The victim was aged between 6 and 9 years, and was referred to throughout the case as MY. Often in cases of sexual assault against minors, or where the information may negatively impact one or more of the persons involved names are changed to conceal their identity. This is done for public policy purposes, and serves no other purpose.

The accused was the partner of the victim’s aunt. In this case his name was also concealed because if the accused was identified it may reveal the identity of the victim. In other circumstances only the victim’s name would be hidden.

On the charges of indecency there was no dispute that the conduct occurred and that it resulted in the relevant offence.  These acts occurred just between the accused and the victim often in a secluded area. The key issue is that while there was little contestation there was little corroborating evidence. Part from some ‘brief and uncontroversial evidence’ delivered by a police officer at trial there were only three people in total who gave evidence at the trial.

That was the complainant, applicant and the aunt. The aunt reported seeing her niece appear ‘mortified’ at one stage but denied awareness that anything sinister was occurring. At the original trial the evidence was over within two weeks and the jury convicted on all four counts.

The appeal was filed on three grounds on the 25^th of January 2017. The first two grounds of appeal were based on the condition that the jury was misdirected during the original judge’s summary. However these grounds require that the defence has leave to appeal. This is because under rule four of the Criminal Appeal Rules (NSW) unless the counsel takes issue as the directions are giving they must be done to appeal on these grounds. The leave was not given on the condition that the complainant could not show that the verdicts were unreasonable and could not be supported with regard to the evidence. They also were not based on a question of law alone, which prevented the complainant from appealing the decision on those grounds alone.  

The misdirection was based on a misstatement by the judge that was easily clarified by reference to prior statements and a hand out that they were provided with prior to the misstatement. It was determined by the judges of this case that the reading of the whole of the summing up would leave the jury in no doubt as to the burden of proof borne by the prosecution.

The second alleged misdirection was given by the judge in regards to the evidence from the aunt. He said;

“Members of the jury, as you heard in the submissions from counsel for the parties, the complainant has given evidence of what she said the accused did to her at certain times. The accused has testified that he did not do so. The only evidence that he did those things comes from the complainant. Where the prosecution has to prove a case beyond reasonable doubt and the only evidence on that topic comes from the complainant, then obviously you will examine her evidence very carefully and decide whether you can be satisfied of its reliability beyond reasonable doubt on the essential elements of one or all of the charges as you consider them separately. So if the proof has to be beyond reasonable doubt, and there is only [the complainant’s] evidence about a particular event occurring, as a matter of logic you have to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that her evidence is reliable when she is giving testimony about the essential elements of the charges.”

This evidence is a fairly standard warning, there are many similar situations like this that also arise in a court. Therefore, the complainant alleges that it should have either been repeated or had it pointed out that it should be directed specifically to count for as that was the only place where the aunt’s evidence applied.

This complaint became further irrelevant in paragraph 25 of the case where the judges indicate that the judge had also give a ‘Markuleski direction.’ This direction reminds the jury that that charges are to be considered separately. It also reminds the jury the conclusion of unreliability of one witness does not discount the possibility of a guilty conclusion on other counts.

These directions are often applied in sexual assault cases when the evidence is highly subjective, uncorroborated or emotional. These cases are emotionally charged and can leave many witnesses feeling uncomfortable and unsure. There are carefully designed judicial processes and direction that ensure no matter how emotionally uncomfortable the evidence is the jury will be able to objectively and fairly apply the evidence to determine guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 

Studying on the run

Studying On The Run

Good god, working and being busy is the worst thing. I love to sit down, set my desk up nicely and have some relaxed study time. There’s no greater indulgence than studying at a slow pace enjoying a cup of coffee and a pastry – but we all know that’s rarely the case. Rather you’ll always find yourself stuck running between academic work, busy court dates and social outings.

so much to do!!

On tumblr I’ve seen a few quick and dirty tips to get you through on the hyper busy times – but really those aren’t very sustainable. The best way to manage studying on the run is to prepare for the siege. Some of the most important ways to prepare is to trim off what isn’t necessary.

Removing the unnecessary;

When your life is busy it’s important to grab five minutes to go over what you really have on. It’s best to do this in that little bit of R&R time you get whenever. While it may be a bummer to lose some of your relax time to work I can guarantee you’ll be getting more chill time in the future.

Firstly, write out everything you do – even the little things like grocery shopping, taking out the trash and vacuuming. These tasks all eat up your time and you need to factor them in.

Some good ways to list out what you’re doing include;

-        Making a general dot point list

-        Using a weekly schedule to map out the time spent on each item

For this you can group together larger tasks like ‘household cleaning’, ‘week preparation’ and place them approximately where you’d do it. The idea is that you can see how much time is spent where.

Also factor in travel time, and preparation time. Things like packing your bag, finding the food and driving to work will add up. For example, if you have a five minute walk to the bus, a twenty minute bus drive and then a three minute walk to the office when you get off the bus, you spend 280 minutes per working week just travelling to and from work.'

Don't forget to save yourself
some time for treats!

Another positive method to try is to use a monthly planner to figure out where your appointments are and then combine it with your weekly general planner to see where you might lose extra time. Calculate the total amount of time you spend doing each activity. Just fill out the general plan and pair it with the weekly schedule to make sure that you cover all your bases.

Now that you know how you chisel away each minute of the day run through the list and figure out where you overspend your time. Think of it like a budget, you can only spend a certain amount of time in each area of your life. This apportionment will be different for everyone depending on your job, study, family and individual needs. However, my preferred break down looks like this;

(Worked out via, portions per day in a 24 hr cycle – using double amount of estimated time to allow for preparation and travel)

Activity	Time/Portion
Administration	1.8%
Exercise and Eating	8.3%
Sleep	33%
Relaxing	16.6%
Work	20%
Study	20.8%

These are basic categories of what I need to do in a day to ensure that I’m maintaining a balanced lifestyle. Using my schedule I often find that I’m overspending time in work or study areas and cutting back on sleep. This causes greater stress – and actually means that you’re working hard but less effectively.

Use your itemized dot point list above to assess which activities you’re doing in each category. When you’re struggling for time any activity that doesn’t contribute towards a ‘specific end goal’, needs to be cut.

End goals are things like;

1.      Maintain all relevant administrative records up to workable standard

This means don’t throw anything out you’ll need later and have it to a standard so that if you need it you could use it. It doesn’t have to be perfect but useable.

2.      Achieve goal 1

3.      Achieve goal 2

4.      Maintain work required not to fall behind in other areas

These are prioritized for a reason. While it is optimal not to fall behind in other areas, when you’re still learning to manage your time you may struggle to maintain number four, but always make sure that number one is followed – otherwise you can end up in a real tangle.

Keeping yourself on task

It goes without saying that even if you schedule your day, if you fail to follow it nothing is going to be resolved. It’s important then that whatever task you’re focusing on – you follow it entirely. Don’t let go of the task until you’re complete – because lots of half-finished tasks are an absolute nightmare.

To make sure that you stay on task – use your administration time wisely. Plan out larger tasks into twenty minute chunks and take a break after every 20 minutes. An example of this break down can be found here;

Additionally, the best way to make sure that you stay on task is to minimize your distractions. Sometimes when you’re really struggling to work you actually need to change up the kind of distractions that you are allowing yourself to have. It is inevitable in this environment that you will always have to combat some distractions.

However, we can use them to our advantage; some days you will work much better in total silence and a few lights on while other ways the hustle and bustle of a café will provide you with the perfect amount of background activity to plow through a huge pile of work. Try to have an armory of different places that you can go to work and be prepared to change things up to suit your needs better.

Streamline your activities

As discussed in a previous post it’s important to have a good admin system so that you can move quickly through each task. I like to set up the routes of the day and have my bag packed to suit each of these activities.

For me, I also like to use time markers throughout the day to ensure that I have to move on. For example at nine I know that I have to be out of bed and at my desk for either study or work. Some days this means that I have that extra bit of flexibility to set up my work space and find the perfect environment, then by 12 I have to have finished up my first activity for the day.

Additionally, give yourself a clipboard or an ipad where you can work on your lap. When I’m exhausted or struggling to maintain focus it’s perfect to be able to give myself 30 minutes or so to curl up on my bed and just work at a bit of a slower pace until I feel recharged.

The most important part if you’re easily distracted is to put blocks up in place so that you can’t be distracted for longer than necessary. I am most easily distracted before appointments. Appointments often mess up my day and when I’m out of the routine I spend hours floundering about trying to figure out what exactly I should be doing. I can’t settle on one task and I’m always thinking about when I should leave. Knowing this I leave all of my small admin or progress tasks to the morning before an appointment so I don’t have to settle in and focus on one thing for too long.

High Court Under the Microscope; Donald Trump and the Refugee Ban

HIGH COURT UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

Donald Trump v International Refugee Assistance Project

These cases are about an executive order made by the United States to alter how foreign nationals enter the country. The key elements of this were to suspend entry from six designated countries for 90 days. This was challenged on two grounds, certiorari – which is ‘a writ or order by which a high court reviews a case tried in a lower court’ – and applications to stay the preliminary injunctions. These were granted.

The executive order presented a policy against countries representing a heightened terrorist risk;

·        Iran

·        Iraq

·        Libya

·        Somalia

·        Sudan

·        Syria

·        Yemen

The officials were told that they must review how adequate it would be to restrict visas from these areas for ninety days. The court was also alerted to an alteration to the United States Refugee Admissions Program which reduced the number of refugees able to enter the country for 120 days.  

A second executive order addressed early concerns made by the Assistance project and requires that the secretary of homeland security conducts a global review to determine which foreign governments provide adequate information about nationals applying for a USA visa. Any countries found to be deficient would be given 50 days to alter their practices. These counties would be required to impose additional procedures as necessary to ensure that individuals seeking admission as refugees do not pose a threat to national security.

Finally – and perhaps most controversially- the order determined that the entry of more than 50,000 refugees in the fiscal year of 2017 would be detrimental to the interest of the USA.

There were several responses to this order but the establishment clause of the first amendment was the most successful. It claimed that this act was not motivated by concerns of national security but islamophobia. In the first instance, most of the court ruled that the primary purpose of clause 2(c) – preventing entry of certain migrants was based on religious fears. This violates the first amendment.

This was further supported by the test that a reasonable person knowing all the claims made against the migration of Muslims into America by Donald trump would conclude that this policy was religiously motivated. Therefore, the court upheld the injunction which prevented the enforcement of s2(c) against foreign nationals seeking to enter the country.

On June 12, a request for a certiorari was entered. In doing so a new issue was added to the cases which is that the courts had not altered the date at which the effect of the act would be moot because 90 days would be over. In response to that issue Donald Trump issued a memorandum determining that ‘the date on which the injunctions in these cases are lifted or stayed with respect to that provision’ – meaning that the provision would continue until otherwise extinguished [Direction of National Intelligence (June 14, 2017).

The injunctions were barred against 2(c) for any person who had no connection with the United States through a relationship or other entity. This means that any married person, child or person connected to other legal entity can still enter the country. However, this is not intended to exclusively determine the rights of the parties but merely to provide temporary equitable relief to both parties. It was done in the overall public interest [University of Tex. V Camenisch 451 U.S. 390, 395 (1981)]. This decision was based on the reason that ‘an unadmitted and nonresident alien…has no constitutional right of entry to this country’. Given that ‘the interest in preserving national security is an urgent objective of the highest order’ it would be inappropriate to prevent the government from pursuing that objective [Holdver v Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U.S. 1, 28 (2010)].

Effectively this ruling acknowledges the delicate balance that the government must walk between pleasing the morals of the public and acknowledging the dangers of the modern world. Whether the order is truly religiously motivated is difficult to infer given the context of global terrorism – and despite the claims of Donald trump against Islam it is difficult to truly draw issue given the lack of explicit mention of Islam. It does beg the question if this order is purely religiously motivated, combined with the brash nature of the current president – why not just prevent the entry of all Muslims if that was the true intention of the order?

Some claim that Trump is merely following the prior policy of President Obama who first identified the countries on the list. It is true that his predecessor did initiate the list and Obama emphasized that it was a part of a continued focus on the threat of foreign fighters. It should also be noted that the act targets countries that have been reviewed and identified as ‘troublesome travel areas’ which means that they are unsafe for American citizens to travel to. While there is some opposition to this counter argument claiming that it was merely the travel to these areas by US citizens that was worried about not the influx of migrants – if US citizens can’t travel to a dangerous country – there must be a concern about the opposite.

The issue is far more complex than some policy makers realize, growing concerns about citizen welfare and greater fear growing in European countries, it’s natural for any leader to want to recognize these concerns.