Students from six Sullivan County high schools will hear arguments in three state Supreme Court cases as participants in a program created to educate young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.
The 330 students and their teachers will attend a special Supreme Court session Nov. 16 at Kingsport City Hall. Each of three groups of students will hear oral arguments in one actual case, followed by a question and answer session with the attorneys for both sides in the case.
High schools participating in SCALES - an acronym for the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students – are Dobyns Bennett, Tennessee, Sullivan East, Sullivan North, Sullivan South and Sullivan Central.
Participating students and teachers also will join the Supreme Court, local judges, attorneys and other guests for lunch, sponsored by the Kingsport and Bristol Bar Associations, and a brief program.
Teachers whose classes are involved in the project attended a three-hour professional development session where they reviewed cases to be argued at SCALES. The teachers also were provided with notebooks of materials to use in their classrooms, including suggested activities, and SCALES Project handbooks for each student.
"The Tennessee Supreme Court believes that knowledge and understanding of the judicial branch of government are essential to good citizenship,” Chief Justice William M. Barker said.
“The SCALES Project is designed to educate young participants about the system they will inherit. The interaction we have with the students renews our faith that our nation’s future is in good hands.”
Circuit Court Judge McLellan, who is coordinating the project in the Second Judicial District, other local judges and attorneys met with participating 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 and posted on the court system website at www.tsc.state.tn.us.
"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."
The cases students will hear in Kingsport are State of Tennessee v. Jerry Hayes, Jr., Karen Renee Howell v. State of Tennessee and State of Tennessee v. Kirk Williams.
Issues the court will consider are whether a traffic stop conducted at an ID checkpoint in a public housing development was unconstitutional as an unreasonable seizure; whether a juvenile charged with a delinquent act and found by a juvenile court judge to be committable to an institution for the mentally retarded or mentally ill can be transferred to circuit court and tried as an adult; and whether evidence obtained as a result of a traffic stop involving Kirk Williams’ vehicle should be suppressed.