Parents coming to school to talk to the class about their jobs is a classic lesson plan that’s usually employed in grade school. But an advanced variation on that theme happened Monday at Roosevelt High School.
Three, count ‘em, three justices who sit on the Iowa Supreme Court have children who are Roughrider seniors, and the distinguished trio of arbiters visited with students to discuss the state’s judicial system before the entire court held a public session to hear oral arguments in an actual case in the school auditorium Monday evening.
Pierce Mansfield, Olivia Appel and Aidan McDonald were not among the students who came to hear Justices Ed Mansfield, Brent Appel and Christopher McDonald. That’s not the way the model works in those grade school scenarios where the proud offspring of the visiting VIPs often issue the invitations, but in this case it was probably a relief to the jurists/dads that their teenaged jury didn’t include any of their own.
Besides their current students at Roosevelt, each also count Rider alums among their broods, and Justice McDonald was eager to note that, in addition to his TRHS ties, he’s a Lincoln High grad, Class of 1992.
The personal connections might make the court’s selection of Roosevelt appear to be an inside deal, but Monday’s events there are just the latest stop in the court’s tradition of touring the city and state to give citizens ample opportunities to see Iowa’s highest court at work in a variety of public venues.
“We hear about 100 cases each term,” Justice Mansfield told the students, an annual period that roughly coincides with the rhythms of an academic calendar, running from Labor Day through April each year. “We rule on matters that affect Iowans’ everyday lives, something I’m proud of and that we take very seriously,” Mansfield said.
Justice Appel likened the court to the board of directors for the judicial branch of Iowa’s government.
“We also rule on matters of legal ethics,” he said. “We’re responsible for overseeing the operations of the state’s courts.”
Normally the justices are the ones asking the questions. By the time they hear a case, as they would on Monday night, they’ve already read the briefs filed by the attorneys on each side and done their due diligence in terms of researching relevant statutes and precedents. Oral arguments are their chance to fill in blanks by seeking explanation. But facing high school students instead of lawyers, they encouraged inquiries directed at them and received plenty. Their answers included some interesting personal peeks behind the bench.
Mansfield revealed that one way the justices deter one another from getting too longwinded is by fining anyone who exceeds the time limit on questioning during an oral argument session.
“If you go too long you have to put money into the fund for our holiday party,” he explained about a system that sounds like the self-policing kangaroo courts often found in professional baseball clubhouses.
Another interesting tidbit about Mansfield is that a college buddy of his became a justice on the supreme court in Ohio. What are the odds?
“Not only that,” he said, “but neither of us sits on the court in our native state.”
DMPS has the honor of being a regular stop on the judicial circuit. Last week, Iowa Court of Appeals judge Mary Tabor, herself the parent of three Roosevelt graduates, paid an annual visit there to preside over a moot court exercise. Last fall, the court took its show on the road to North High School. We also reported on a similar event at Hoover High School a couple of years ago. Both occasions were presided over by the late Chief Justice Mark Cady, who passed away unexpectedly last November. Dana Oxley was appointed by Governor Kim Reynolds to fill that vacancy in January and the justices have since elected Susan Christensen to replace Cady as Chief Justice. Justice David Wiggins is set to retire next week and Gov. Reynolds just received the names of three finalists chosen by the State Judicial Nominating Commission to consider as Wiggins’ successor. Previously, she appointed Christensen in 2018 and McDonald last year. Four court vacancies in less than two years on a seven-member body is unusual and draws a different sort of public attention than the court seeks by touring the state to do its work for all to see.
The auditorium at Roosevelt has drawn bigger crowds than showed up Monday night, but it’s never been the site of more important business.
