Oyez, Oyez … all rise for the annual AP Government Moot Supreme Court is in session in the library at Roosevelt High School. It was on Friday, that is.
Judge Mary Tabor from the Iowa Court of Appeals and prominent local criminal defense attorney Alfredo Parrish took turns presiding as the SCOTUS Chief Justice.
In a whirlwind of swift judicial proceedings, the court heard three real and recent cases that actually came before the actual Supreme Court during this decade:
- McDonald v. Chicago, 2010 (2nd Amendment – right to bear arms)
- Miller v. Alabama, 2012 (8th Amendment – cruel & unusual punishment)
- Rodriguez v. U.S., 2015 (4th Amendment – unreasonable search & seizure)
The syllabus for AP Govt. Unit 5: SCOTUS & the Judicial Branch reads, in part, “Students will prepare for the civil rights and civil liberties portions of the AP exam…” and course instructor Amber Graeber sees to it that her students’ preparation is thorough.
They donned choir robes over their jeans to play the roles of associate justices. Graeber reminded the “attorneys” to stand when they addressed the court. A reasonable level of decorum was insisted upon, notwithstanding a couple of caps worn by certain parties and some nervous chuckles in lieu of definitive responses to queries posed by the justices.
Overall the exercise was an impressive civics lesson that emphasized there are always (at least) two sides to every story and conflict resolution in the eyes of the law is not nearly as simple as it might seem from outside the courtroom.
“Are you telling me that one amendment is more important than another?” Parrish asked more than once. No one meant to say that exactly, but the underlying question is a critical and difficult one: What happens when one person’s rights bump up against another’s? Whose prevail and why?
Besides Graeber’s vigorous coaching on the finer points of courtroom protocol, the Guest VIP Chief Justices lent an air of authenticity and a breadth of expertise to the sessions.
Judge Tabor was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2010. A graduate of the University of Iowa and the University of Iowa College of Law in 1991, she was a staff attorney for the Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C. and director of the Criminal Appeals Division for the Iowa Attorney General’s office before becoming a judge.
Judge Tabor also the mother of three graduates from Roosevelt/Central Academy.
Parrish has represented clients in over 200 jury trials, including a broad range of civil trials and more than 30 first-degree murder cases AND argued before the United States Supreme Court multiple times. He was formerly a Senior Staff Attorney at Polk County Legal Aid Society as well as a Criminal and Business Law Instructor at Des Moines Area Community College, and has served as Student Advisor at Drake University Law School.
He too is a DMPS parent. In fact, his son Hamilton is a senior in Graeber’s class, a fact that did not result in his recusal from the case. Parrish did note for the record, however, that, “I could never be confirmed as a real SCOTUS justice. I’m too liberal and would tend to favor defendants too much, I’ll just admit to that right now.”
Nobody won and nobody lost in Friday’s proceedings. And nobody is ready to pass the bar exam – yet. But by the time they sit for the AP Exam in United States Government, they’ll all be prepped for that.
