Students from six public and private 5th Judicial District high schools will hear arguments in three state Supreme Court cases Thursday, Oct. 25, in Maryville as participants in a program that educates young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.
The 420 students and their teachers will attend a special Supreme Court session at the Blount County Justice Center. Each of three groups of students will hear oral arguments in one actual case, beginning at 9 a.m., followed by a question and answer session with the attorneys for both sides in the cases.
Schools participating in SCALES - an acronym for the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students – are Alcoa High School, Maryville High School, Apostolic Christian Academy, Heritage High School, Maryville Christian School and William Blount High School.
Since the first SCALES program in 1995, more than 18,000 students have participated. Chief Justice William M. Barker and Justices Janice M. Holder, Cornelia A. Clark, Gary R. Wade and William C. Koch, Jr., hold SCALES programs in communities across the state at the request of local judges and members of the Bar.
The Blount County students and teachers will join the Supreme Court, local judges, attorneys and other guests for lunch and a brief program. The meal is being sponsored locally.
Teachers whose classes are involved in the project attended a three-hour professional development session Sept. 14 led by Court of Criminal Appeals Judges D. Kelly Thomas, Jr., and James Curwood Witt, Jr. The session included a review of 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 is committed to SCALES because we believe the program plays a role in shaping well-informed good citizens,” the chief justice said. “These young people will inherit the system and should understand how it works and how it affects them. Every time we conduct SCALES and I have an opportunity to visit with the students, it renews my faith that our nation’s future is in very good hands.”
Thomas and Circuit Court Judge Michael Meares coordinated the project in the 5th Judicial District. 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 and posted on the court system website at www.tncourts.gov.
Cases the students will hear involve a mother’s claim of negligent infliction of emotional distress based on witnessing an accident in which her infant son was killed; whether there were prejudicial errors in the trial of a man convicted of robbing and murdering an antique shop owner; and whether there was sufficient evidence to convict a woman for criminally negligent homicide in the drowning death of a 5-year-old boy.