Classroom to Courtroom: Judges Join Students in Moot Court Arguments
Justice Appel speaks with a student before oral arguments begin at Roosevelt.
Pending actual decisions in a couple of matters now before the United States Supreme Court, Advanced Placement Government classes in three Des Moines high schools pled cases and issued rulings in Miller v Alabama and Fisher v University of Texas as part of a class exercise on the judicial system. And they had some expert help from members of the Iowa Supreme Court and the Iowa Court of Appeals.
Serving as “Chief Justices” for the moot court proceedings held April 16-17 were Edward Mansfield and Brent Appel, justices on Iowa’s highest court, and Mary Tabor and Anu Vaitheswaran, both of whom are state appellate court judges.
Justice Mansfield joins students judges on a panel at Hoover.
Justice Mansfield presided at Hoover, Justice Appel and JudgeTabor lent their expertise at Roosevelt, and Judge Vaitheswaran heard arguments at Lincoln. All four are parents of current or former DMPS students.
The rest of the participants at each proceeding were AP students cast as lawyers or Associate Supreme Court Justices. Those in the latter role particularly looked their part, donning school choir robes to lend a judicial air to the temporary conversion of classrooms to courtrooms.
Many of the students are either already 18 or will be in time for elections later this year, so their coursework in AP Government makes good preparation for a new level of citizenship.
Judge Tabor speaks with DMPS-TV on the importance of teaching about the judicial system.
“99% of the work lawyers do is outside of the courtroom,” Judge Vaitheswaran advised. “Most cases are decided based on which side prepares best, not courtroom tricks.”
Amber Graeber, who teaches the AP Government class at Lincoln in addition to her role as Humanities Curriculum Coordinator for DMPS, told students that preparation is often the deciding factor in all walks of life. It’s also the principle underlying the district’s emphasis on expansion of the AP program into all of the home high schools.
Judge Vaitheswaran listens as a student judge asks a question at Lincoln.
“Lots of these kids thought AP was only for students who attend Central Academy,” Graeber explained. “But we want students throughout the district to challenge themselves academically. AP classes offer exposure to college-level classwork and better prepare students for post-secondary education.”
And it’s working. AP enrollments have more than doubled as the program has expanded into all five comprehensive high schools. Jason Danielson teaches the AP Government class at Hoover and he has several students there who are AP rookies taking advantage of new offerings at their home school. “We tell the kids it’s our responsibility as teachers to get them ready” for education beyond high school, he says. And the kids are stepping up their level of commitment.
Hoover senior Tyler Bennett hadn’t taken any AP classes until this year and now he’s enrolled in multiple courses aimed at strengthening his case on college applications. His fellow senior Nick Clark had prior AP experience but was particularly drawn to AP Government by his interest in politics, an area he plans to study in college at either Simpson or UNI.
In the case of AP Government, students say the relevance to the real world is appealing. Both of the cases taken up in the moot courts revolve around issues students can relate to.
Miller v Alabama turns on whether or not the imposition of a life-without-parole sentence on a 14-year-old minor constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and so violates the 8th and 14th amendments to the constitution. It was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court last month.
Fisher v University of Texas will determine to what extent the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment permits the consideration of race in undergraduate admissions decisions. The high court is slated to hear arguments during its fall term later this year.
“The students had a real grasp of both cases, asking insightful questions and providing well-informed responses,” said Judge Tabor. “This is a great lesson not only about the judicial system, but in how to research and analyze important issues.”
Early on in the proceedings at all three schools the student lawyers were a little tentative in advancing their arguments, in some cases being encouraged to speak louder. But if the students were initially reticent they quickly got the hang of it. The real-life judges brought in to facilitate the simulations demonstrated to their student counterparts how to examine all aspects of a case by interrupting petitioners and respondents with questions.
At Lincoln it was only a matter of minutes until senior Associate Justice Jessica Lysinger was peppering senior attorneys Lexus Johnson and Maia Craddock with follow ups as to why an adolescent killer is entitled to rehabilitation on the grounds of incomplete frontal lobe development in the teenage brain.
The result was a unique “hands on” learning experience made possible thanks to the expansion of AP courses throughout Des Moines and the willingness of some of Iowa’s top judges to work side-by-side with DMPS students.
