CUMBERLAND, Maine — High school auditoriums with fancy lighting and strategic seating usually serve as prime locations for students to perform a band concert or a musical. On Tuesday, though, the auditorium at Greely High School in Cumberland was transformed into a courtroom.
Since 2005, the Maine Judicial Supreme Court has held oral arguments in actual appeals cases at 40 high schools across Maine. The program has spanned the entire state, with a goal of giving young people more exposure to the judicial branch of our government.
“It’s a highlight of the year for us. We just love going to the schools," Justice Andrew Mead said.
Mead said every October, the seven justices on the court visit a handful of schools. It all started when the former chief justice initiated the idea. Mead said the goal is to show students how an appeals court actually operates.
"This is the real thing. This is the real deal. It’s very engaging," Mead said, later adding, "[Students are] probably not going to go to a courthouse to watch the goings-on. So, we bring the courthouse to them."
That kind of exposure can be significant to impressionable minds. Mead said although his path to entering the legal field wasn't totally straightforward. He was inspired at an early age.
“Growing up, we had family friends who were lawyers. And they were just very impressive people, just dedicated to the rule of law and what they did for their clients," Mead said.
Rep. Steve Moriarty (D-Cumberland) is a retired attorney who argued a number of times in front of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. In the fall of 2019, he was in touch with the judicial department, asking them to consider putting Greely High School on the list of schools for the court to visit. It finally happened four years later.
"If you can come to the community itself and to the school setting, you’re really showing commitment and dedication to the people of the state," Moriarty said.
Moriarty said this program allows students to see a complete legal argument from the beginning to the end, which isn't always what's portrayed in popular media or on the news.
“I hope the prime takeaway is a heightened interest in the law and the legal process," Moriarty said, later adding, “This, I think, should trigger some long-term interest.”
Teachers like Richard Taylor, a member of the social studies department at Greely High School, and also a former criminal defense attorney in New Hampshire, were all invited to bring their students to the event Tuesday. Taylor said that leading up to it, he helped his students prepare by having them read the briefs submitted by each side in all three of the cases and learning about the justices.
"Students need to come in contact with their government and democracy in motion to make it real," Taylor said.
Taylor said most people don't get the chance to see an appellate court in action. He said this was an opportunity for students to envision themselves in that role.
"In the first case, the attorney for the state was a 2010 Greely graduate, and she made that known to the court and to the students there," Taylor said.
The court will be heading to Winthrop on Wednesday and Skowhegan on Thursday.