More than 750 students from 22 public and private high schools in Shelby County will participate Nov. 17-18 in a program developed by the state Supreme Court to educate young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.
The students and their teachers will attend special Supreme Court sessions at the Shelby County Courthouse where justices will hear oral arguments in five actual cases. Each group of about 150 students will hear one case before the Supreme Court. 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 area businesses and organizations, the five justices, local judges, city, county and school officials and local attorneys will be seated at tables with the students.
Schools participating Nov. 17 in SCALES - an acronym for the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students - are The Hutchison School, Evangelical Christian, Memphis University School, Memphis Catholic School, Collierville, Bartlett and Germantown High Schools, Immaculate Conception, Lausane, Bishop Byrne, Central Baptist, First Assembly Christian and Briarcrest High School.
Schools participating Nov. 18 are St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Christian Brothers High School, Harding Academy, St. Benedict, St. Agnes, Houston, Bolton, Millington and Cordova High Schools.
The SCALES Project is being coordinated in Shelby County by Circuit Court Judge Robert
Childers and Criminal Court Judge Carolyn Wade Blackett. County Commissioner Mark Norris and members of the Memphis Bar Association also are participating in preparations for the program.
"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.”