Mock Supreme Court

Miss Anderson’s English class held a mock Supreme Court regarding the
case of T.L.O. vs New Jersey that took place in 1985. The case
concerned the search and seizure of a girl’s bag who had been smoking
in a restroom at the high school. Six students played the role of
lawyers, and there were nine justices and a handful of court
reporters. Many arguments were brought up from both sides about
whether or not the search conducted by the vice principal of the
girl’s school was justified or unjustified.

The students took their jobs very seriously, and after the judges’
deliberation, they deemed the search justified. The final vote was six
to two. The real Supreme Court’s decision had been the same, but
students didn’t find out what the actual ruling was until after the
trial, as to not affect the judge’s decisions. The lawyers were very
convincing, and several judges’ opinions changed throughout the
hearing.  At the conclusion of the hearing, a prosecuting attorney
admitted that after listening to the other side’s arguments, he had
changed his mind as well. “Now I really do think that it was a
justified search,” he said, “But I had to keep arguing for my side.”
The mock Supreme Court was very successful, and the judges were
delighted to hear that their outcome had not differed from the real
Supreme Court’s final decision.