Alex McGrath cites U.S. Supreme Court cases effortlessly when describing his interest in American politics and law.

Marbury v. Madison, Gideon v. Wainwright, Plessy v. Ferguson, Snyder v. Phelps, to name a few.

“I'm a big Supreme Court buff,” said McGrath, a Severna Park High School junior.

He reads historic court documents in his free time, fascinated by the logic of great legal minds. He is a member of a student government group that lobbies local officials on behalf of students, a former intern for Rep. Donna F. Edwards, a Democrat from Prince George's County, and is a member of his school's Model United Nations club.

He hopes to go to law school and dreams of becoming a Supreme Court justice.

And soon, the 16-year-old will have a chance to meet President Barack Obama and a Supreme Court justice as part of the U.S. Senate Youth Program.

To win one of the two spots for Maryland students in the program, he got his school's recommendation, passed a government test and impressed state school officials in an interview.

To pass the test, McGrath matched quotes with political figures, named the ambassador to the United Nations (Samantha Powers) and the first state with a woman to serve in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives (Maine).

McGrath will be joining Matthew Saxton of Carroll County, the student representative on that county's Board of Education.

Sponsored by The Hearst Foundations, the annual event takes place next month in Washington, Students will learn about government from the country's top politicians and officials. The spot also comes with a $5,000 scholarship to any college.

Aimee Poisson, who supervises student leadership groups for county public schools, said McGrath is the first local student in recent memory to be admitted to the program.

Prior to Justice Antonin Scalia's recent death, McGrath said he would have liked to meet the conservative justice and his progressive counterpart, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“The Constitution of the United States is a document which was written so long ago ... there's so many different interpretations of it, and I just think that's fascinating,” he said.

McGrath said he respected Scalia for his fearless dissents and humor.

He said he had hoped to ask Scalia whether he ever changed his mind on decisions as mainstream opinions switched on social issues such as gay rights.

He admires Ginsburg for her contribution to the women's movement, establishing equality as a precedent to argue for women's rights.

If McGrath gets the chance to talk to Obama, he hopes to ask if he'd run for president again, knowing the pressures and challenges of the job. The president is barred from a third term by the Constitution.

He also wants to know how the president chooses nominees for the court as the judicial system becomes increasingly political.

While he reads the writings and opinions of many history makers, the person he admires above all is his father, Navy Cmdr. Richard McGrath.

“Dad is the smartest man I know,” he said. “You could equate him to President Obama. ... He makes me think of things I haven't thought of in case law, in basically everything.”

His father is a professor at the Naval Academy who lives in Severna Park with his wife, Jessica, Alex and a younger son, Zach. Alex McGrath said his family values education and public service.

Law, intellect and public service run in the family. McGrath was a Navy pilot before coming to teach in Annapolis, moving his family about half a dozen times after his first son was born.

Alex McGrath says he's wanted to be a lawyer as long as he can remember. He likes the nuance of legal language as well as its function in organizing society.

“I can't imagine doing anything than working with law,” he said. “To take complex ideas and distill them down for people.”

At an Annapolis coffee shop on a recent afternoon, he recalled reading Snyder v. Phelps, the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right of a radical religious group to picket military funerals.

Despite growing up in a military family, the teenager said he supports the First Amendment rights of those picketers.

And he can recite a quote by Chief Justice John Roberts in the ruling almost verbatim: “Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow.”