Furry Friend Works in Court

A new, furry employee is working in an Ohio court. Camry is a facility dog walking the halls in Marion County Family Court. He’s been with the court for a month but only since last week has he been in an actual courtroom. Camry helps defuse stress for children and even adults when they come to court.

Camry is the first of his kind as he was placed with a courthouse. Typically facility dogs who work in a courtroom setting are placed with a prosecutor’s office or with a victim advocacy group. There are currently 60 facility dogs nationwide in 32 states. Three of those dogs are in Ohio. Joining Camry is Avery with the Summit County prosecutor’s office and Nanook with Michael’s House in Greene County.

Any four-legged friend that helps children in the courtroom receives a blue-ribbon from me – especially one who knows 40 commands.
Click below to watch Camry’s story.

Schools and Teachers Needed for iCivics Pilot Project

Do you want to help students this summer learn more about citizenship? iCivics needs your help!

iCivics is working in conjunction with GlassLab and Filament Games to upgrade a popular game called Argument Wars. Middle and high school students and teachers are needed to improve the learning that occurs within the game’s cases.

iCivics is looking for 6th through12th grade students to play four games and then complete a short online survey. Their teachers – you! – would be volunteering on June 16 through July 3 to supervise the students testing out the new version of Argument Wars and provide feedback from what they also learned from the game. All pilot testing takes place online.

Contact Alison Atwater at alison.atwater@icivics.org by June 6 to learn more about this terrific program.

Celebrating A Civil Rights Landmark

It has been 60 years since Brown v. Board of Education, the case in which the doctrine of “separate but equal” was finally struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.  The United States Courts website has compiled a list of materials for teachers who wish to study this landmark case.
 
The resources include:

1.     A prepared script for readers to reenact the case – participants hold their own copy of the script and read their respective parts but do not memorize their lines. The emphasis is on comprehension and student-centered learning.

2.     The history of Brown v. Board of Education – teacher materials include a video of a young Thurgood Marshall from the site, Teachers Domain.

 

3.     Profile of Justice Thurgood Marshall – a summary of his early life, education, and legal career.

Teachers may download an activity package with recommendations on how to use the material.   

A Cultural Exchange

On April 29, I had an enjoyable dinner with seven Libyan judges who had spent the day in Columbus, touring the local courts and observing oral arguments at our Supreme Court. The judges came to Ohio as part of a three-week visit sponsored by the government of Libya to learn about the American system of justice. Following their professional training program, these judicial delegates will return to Libya with new ideas based on their experiences abroad.

At the dinner, I discovered that this is a time of great promise for Libyans. The State of Libya is located in northern Africa and has a population of more than 6 million. Since 2011, with the death of Muammar Gaddafi and his regime, Libya has been governed by a temporary constitution and is undergoing political reconstruction and reform. The judges told me that the new members of the commission charged with drafting the consitution had recently been announced and that they were eager for the completion of its work. The document will be put to a referendum when a new constitution is completed. The people of Libya will have a say.

Justice Lanzinger with Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Libyan delegates and guests

The Libyan judges join a special group of visitors. The Ohio Supreme Court has worked with lawyers, judges, legislators, and government officials from other countries to help develop independent judiciaries and train judges for more than 20 years. I, myself, was part of a delegation to Ukraine in 1995, and we have also had visitors from Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, and Serbia. The personal contact between judges of different cultures cannot be overestimated, and I am happy to have been part of the conversation with our colleagues from Libya.

Video Explores Art and Architecture of Supreme Court Building

Even if you haven't been able to visit the building that houses the Supreme Court yet, here's your chance to take a visual tour and explore its exquisite art and architecture. This segment comes from WOSU-TV's "Broad and High" program. The full episode will air at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Off-Site Court in My Own Backyard

On April 9, I had the rare opportunity to bring my colleagues to my hometown, Toledo, for a formal session of the Ohio Supreme Court.  Twice a year we justices leave the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center in Columbus to bring oral arguments to high school students, allowing them to personally hear real cases.  We held our 2014 spring Off-Site Program at the University of Toledo College of Law.

More than 350 high school students from 11 high schools in the Toledo area and dozens of law students from the university observed two civil cases and one criminal case. Local attorneys and teachers prepared the students well. After hearing the cases, the students met with the attorneys who argued the cases to ask questions and discuss the legal issues.  Many students mentioned that this was the most interesting part of their day.

Former Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer started the Off-Site Court Program in 1987 in Toledo as part of his efforts to explain the work of our court.   When we returned for the 68th session this year, oral arguments were held for the first time in the College of Law’s McQuade auditorium.   That happens to be the same place where I gave the valedictory speech for my law school class. Holy Toledo! Who knew I would end up on the Supreme Court 37 years later?  It’s just possible that someone who attended the Off-Site Program might be one of our future justices – it very well could be. 

Ohio Mock Trial March Madness XXXI

The NCAA is not the only game in town. Ohio high schools had their own version of March Madness this past week when in the span of three days, 30 teams from across the state competed in the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education’s 31st High School Mock Trial Competition.

Preliminaries had been conducted throughout the state, and winners advanced to the regional competitions. The state semi-finals began on Thursday, March 6 at the Franklin County Courthouse in Columbus with two teams advancing to the finals held Saturday at the Ohio Statehouse. Sylvania Southview High School in Lucas County and Orange High School in Cuyahoga County each won four consecutive trials to advance to the championship.

 

The mock trials this year focused on the First Amendment freedom of expression and Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. The case pitted the school district against students who protested the district’s signing the high school field’s naming rights to a large corporation. The competing teams, coached by their volunteer legal advisors, presented their cases before a panel of two judges and two attorneys in a case written by a committee of volunteer attorneys.

2014 Ohio High School Mock Trial champions
Sylvania Southview
with the panel of judges after the competition.

The panel that presided over the championship after lengthy deliberations chose Sylvania Southview as the winner. Team member Yuran Chen was singled out for his outstanding performance as a plaintiff’s attorney. This is the first time in 10 years that a Southview team has won the championship.

Beginning in 1983, The Mock Trial Program is Ohio’s largest high school academic competition with more than 3,000 students participating each year. The case materials show students what a case is like and how it progresses throughout a trial and allow them to become attorneys and witnesses. We now have attorneys and at least one judge who actually got their first taste of law through by experiencing the mock trial program.

The Madness continues into May, when competition goes national in Madison, Wisconsin. Stay tuned, and we will update you on the outcome.

Good luck, Sylvania Southview! You carry the best wishes of your state. Do us proud!