Nearly 300 students from nine public and private high schools in the 26th Judicial District will participate Nov. 16 in a state Supreme Court program designed to educate young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.
Students and their teachers from high schools in Chester, Henderson and Madison counties will attend a special Supreme Court session at the Criminal Justice Complex in Jackson where justices will hear oral arguments in three actual cases. Following oral arguments, students will meet for question and answer sessions with the attorneys who presented each side in their cases.
All participating students and teachers also will be guests for lunch with the Supreme Court. During lunch, sponsored by local organizations, students will be seated at tables with the five Supreme Court justices, local judges and attorneys, city, county and school officials.
Schools participating in SCALES - an acronym for the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students - are Jackson Central Merry High School, South Side High School, Trinity Christian Academy, North Side High School, Scotts Hill School, University School of Jackson, Chester County High School, Jackson Christian High School and Lexington Christian Academy.
Teachers whose classes are involved in the project attended a three-hour professional development session in Jackson to prepare for the SCALES Program. Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Jerry Smith of Nashville discussed the state and federal court systems, answered questions and presented an overview of the cases to be argued when students attend SCALES. Teachers also were provided with notebooks of materials to use in their classrooms, including suggested activities, and SCALES Project handbooks for each student. Circuit Court Judge Don Allen is coordinating the project in the 26th Judicial District.
"The Tennessee Supreme Court believes that knowledge and understanding of the judicial branch of government are essential to good citizenship,” Chief Justice Riley Anderson said. “The SCALES Project is designed to educate young participants about the system they will inherit. The interaction we have with the students at lunch and throughout the day also renews our faith that our nation’s future is in good hands.”
Local judges and attorneys met with teachers at the professional development session to schedule classroom visits to review the cases and issues to be considered by the Supreme Court. After justices rule in the cases, copies of the court's opinions will be provided to the classes.
"The SCALES Project is important because it creates a partnership between the judiciary, the Bar and schools to promote a better understanding of the judicial branch of government," the chief justice said. "We hope that teachers will use the materials to make judicial education a continuing part of their curriculum."
Issues in the cases students will hear are whether a verbal exchange between a burglary suspect and police officers was a “custodial interrogation” requiring his Miranda warning and, if so, whether evidence against the defendant should be suppressed; whether the state Court of Appeals erred in upholding a trial court decision denying a wife’s petition to modify a final divorce decree; and whether the Court of Appeals erred in ruling that the Memphis Housing Authority properly ended a woman’s lease after she failed to cause a guest to refrain from criminal activity in her apartment.
Including SCALES in the 26th Judicial District, nearly 9,000 Tennessee students from 233 schools have taken part in the project since it was initiated by the state Supreme Court in 1995.