The public is invited to a reception for the Tennessee Supreme Court from 5-6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14, at the Montgomery County Civic Center.
The reception, sponsored by the Montgomery and Robertson County Bar Associations, is being held in conjunction with the Supreme Court SCALES Program for more than 400 high school students from Montgomery and Robertson counties. SCALES, an acronym for the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students, was developed by the court to educate young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.
The students and their teachers will attend a special Supreme Court session Thursday at the Montgomery County Courthouse where the five justices will hear oral arguments in actual cases. Students will be divided into three groups, with each hearing one case argued before the Supreme Court.
After the oral arguments, students will meet for question and answer sessions with the attorneys who argued their cases. All of the participating students and teachers will join the Supreme Court and other guests for lunch at the Montgomery County Civic Center, also sponsored by the Bar Associations and area businesses.
A fourth case, beginning at 2:30 p.m., will be open to the public. The court will consider issues in the criminal cases of Paul Dennis Reid and Christopher Davis.
Schools participating in SCALES are Northwest, Clarksville, Montgomery Central, East Robertson, Greenbrier, Jo Byrns, Springfield, Northeast and Kenwood High Schools and Clarksville Academy. The Clarksville SCALES Project is being coordinated by Circuit Court Judge John Gasaway, III, presiding judge for the 19th Judicial District.
Including SCALES in Clarksville, nearly 7,000 Tennessee students from 170 schools have taken part in the project since it was initiated by the state Supreme Court in 1995.