To create more interest in a classroom lesson, Rick Reed, McPherson High School social studies teacher, recently invited a state appellate court judge to present a “hands-on” look at the judicial side of government.

After describing his educational background to Reed's classes, Judge Joseph Pierron told students about his work in the appellate court. He sits on the court with 11 other judges. In panels of three, the justices hear appeals on cases. According to Pierron, he generally hears more than 300 cases yearly.

Pierron has been making presentations to schools and other groups since 1994. Now that the federal government has mandated that schools recognize Constitution Day on Sept. 17, Pierron expects more of these events will take place in classrooms. Reed recognized the insight the appellate judge brought to his students.

“The connection that I want you to make is interaction,” Reed said. “You need to ask questions. Give him the utmost respect because he is the expert.”

Taking students through the background of the three branches of the federal government, Pierron reminded the audience of the Founding Fathers' fear of the power of a central government.

“It took just four months to draft the constitution,” Pierron said, “but it is the most successful governmental document in existence.”

According to Pierron, the amount of power that is given to the courts is most unusual. In no other country can justices declare a law unconstitutional or demand the president to hand over material like audio tapes. A Supreme Court justice is appointed for life so that the pressure of reelection or reappointment cannot influence any decisions.

“But it is a human institution, and humans make mistakes,” Pierron said. “Two famous ones are the Dred Scott decision and the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.”

Assuring students that decisions by the Supreme Court affect their everyday life, he engaged them in playing roles in two of the more interesting cases and voting on a decision before he revealed how the nine justices actually ruled.

In the first case, members of the Libertarian Party seeking political offices in Georgia appealed the decision that upheld a Georgia law mandating that anyone running for public office had to be tested for drugs.

Pierron took the students through the arguments on both sides and had them examine the precedents that were used in determining this case.

After hearing the evidence, students in the audience voted that the Georgia state law was unconstitutional. Pierron told them that the Supreme Court made the same ruling with only one or two dissenting votes.

“The Fourth Amendment gives citizens valuable rights,” Pierron said. “The Supreme Court determined those rights were not going to be abridged.”

In the second case, MHS seniors assumed the roles of the Indianapolis chief of police, his assistant and two lawyers who claimed the police use of a drug-sniffing dog at a sobriety check point violated their civil liberties. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, where it was ruled that use of the dog was unconstitutional, in part because the action was too close to a general warrant for the police.

After watching the role play and hearing the background, the audience again voted in line with the Supreme Court's decision.

“Those are not easy questions,” Pierron told the students. “It is important who sits on the Supreme Court.”

Following the presentation to one of his classes, Reed said that the student response was good and that the smaller groups made them more comfortable to interact with the speaker. He praised Pierron's work with students.

“He's so good, he's so experienced,” Reed said.

Reed has been working with the Kansas Bar Association on several projects. He and Pierron have teamed for a special project that would create a model program for Constitution Day at MHS.

Since Sept. 17 falls on a Sunday this year, the 2006 celebration of Constitution Day has been moved to Monday, Sept. 18.

McPherson Unified School District 418
514 N. Main
McPherson, KS 67460
620-241-9400
It is the policy of McPherson USD 418 not to discriminate on the basis of sex, disability, race,
religion, color, age, or national origin in its educational programs and/or activities, nor in its employment practices.

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