Essay contest winner Alyssa Marcus, second from left, received accolades for her award-winning essay at a ceremony at the New York City Bar on Tuesday, May 22. Joining her were, at left, Appellate Division, Second Department Justice Robert Miller, who runs the awards program, Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals Michael Garcia, and Queens Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Grays. Photo courtesy: Edward King/Brooklyn Eagle.
The following is the winning essay of the Seventeenth annual High School Essay Contest sponsored by the Association of Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of New York and the New York Law Journal in partnership with the New York City Dept. of Education. The contest is open to high school students in 10th, 11th and 12th grades throughout New York City. The 2018 winner and nine finalists, who wrote on “Separation of Powers: Framework for Freedom,” will have the opportunity to intern in the state court system for one week in the summer, and were awarded gift cards from the New York Law Journal.
When the United States was first created, many factors went into building an effective government for generations to come. One of these factors included separation of powers, separating the government into three different branches in order to prevent an abuse of power. Separation of powers has a huge impact on the way the U.S. government functions.
