I process emotions slowly, so it’s no surprise that it took me a long time to realize the magnitude of Case Day.

As counsel, my Case Day experience spanned over the course of three months—beginning in December, when I spent a car ride to Florida reading about the murder of Cole Cannon and ending in mid-March when I was able to visit the Supreme Court and hear the oral argument for Miller v. Alabama made in front of the Court.

The Supreme Court itself cannot reasonably be compared to anything else I’ve done in high school. Simply being in the Supreme Court chamber makes you want to sit up straighter and look more dignified. I spent the 10 minutes between finding my seat in the chamber and hearing the start of arguments trying to emulate the incredible posture of the man I was sitting next to—who managed to sit up straight, casually leaf through a brochure, and shoot me judgmental looks at the same time. That is talent.

Then, oral arguments started.

After reading a few precedent cases and basic biographies of each of the judges, you get an idea of each of their court room personas. You begin to see the nine justices as characters and their mannerisms begin to dominate your attention: you can anticipate when one of the counsel’s arguments will spark a round of questioning from Justice Scalia, when counsel is trying to pander to the ideology of another Justice. At the same time, you can tell when counsel is feeling uncomfortable: how desperately he is trying to avoid answering a question, how fervently he is attempting to divert the justice’s attention. Focusing on the interaction between counsel and justices, trying to absorb the beauty of the chamber, and waiting in anticipation for Justice Thomas to ask a question is overwhelming. There’s so much going on around you that you have read about and studied but now get to actually see. At one point, after Justice Kagan asked a question about Harmelin that reflected an opinion I had voiced during my own argument, I nearly screamed. (For the record, I held myself together.)

After about an hour, oral arguments for Miller came to an end. Then it was time to meet with Justice Scalia for a Q & A. Since it has taken me a month of reflection to pull together my feelings about the oral arguments themselves, I’d say a discussion of that Q&A will have to wait for another issue.