RepublicThunderbolt
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The Palm Beach Post
Thursday, September 30, 1999
Students assess Bill of Rights, vote against guns, lawyers, press
By ron_hayes@pbpost.com
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
LAKE WORTH -- If the Bill of rights could have only five amendments instead of 10, which one should be kept?
Turn in your guns, stop the presses and fire the lawyers, some students at Lake Worth High School told state Supreme Court Justice Harry Lee Anstead. But keep protecting us from unreasonable searches and unusual punishments, give us a jury and let us pray.
Anstead visited the school Wednesday for a "Justice Teach-In," in which the state's highest judges hold moot court hearing and conduct exercises to instill respect for the Bill of Rights.
"I get tired of hearing people say. 'Children are our future,'" said Anstead, appointed to the court in 1994. "Children are our present."
In the mock trial, Anstead joined six students serving as Supreme Court justices who must decide whether school principals have a right to censor student newspapers.
"This is a question of a constitutional principle versus school authority," he explained. Then he questioned student "lawyers" arguing either side.
In the end, the mock court voted 4-3 against censorship, with Anstead in the minority.
"But I had to vote with the law," he said. The case was based on an actual hearing in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that school pricipals have the rights of publishers over student papers.
To get the students thinking about their rights, Anstead broke the class of 24 into five groups and had them decide which amendments in the Bill of Rights they'd most want to keep after a foreign invasion.
When the votes were tallied, protection from unreasonable searches and seizures garnered support from all the groups, while the right to bear arms, the right to legal counsel and freedom of the press couldn't muster a single vote.
Anstead responded with a brief history of the rationale behind the right to bear arms and the importance of a free press in encouraging debate.
"One way to strive for justice," he reminded the class, "is to complain about injustice."
Supreme Court Justice Barbra Pariente will conduct a similar session at Jupiter High School today.
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[This message has been edited by RepublicThunderbolt (edited October 01, 1999).]
Thursday, September 30, 1999
Students assess Bill of Rights, vote against guns, lawyers, press
By ron_hayes@pbpost.com
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
LAKE WORTH -- If the Bill of rights could have only five amendments instead of 10, which one should be kept?
Turn in your guns, stop the presses and fire the lawyers, some students at Lake Worth High School told state Supreme Court Justice Harry Lee Anstead. But keep protecting us from unreasonable searches and unusual punishments, give us a jury and let us pray.
Anstead visited the school Wednesday for a "Justice Teach-In," in which the state's highest judges hold moot court hearing and conduct exercises to instill respect for the Bill of Rights.
"I get tired of hearing people say. 'Children are our future,'" said Anstead, appointed to the court in 1994. "Children are our present."
In the mock trial, Anstead joined six students serving as Supreme Court justices who must decide whether school principals have a right to censor student newspapers.
"This is a question of a constitutional principle versus school authority," he explained. Then he questioned student "lawyers" arguing either side.
In the end, the mock court voted 4-3 against censorship, with Anstead in the minority.
"But I had to vote with the law," he said. The case was based on an actual hearing in which the U.S. Supreme Court found that school pricipals have the rights of publishers over student papers.
To get the students thinking about their rights, Anstead broke the class of 24 into five groups and had them decide which amendments in the Bill of Rights they'd most want to keep after a foreign invasion.
When the votes were tallied, protection from unreasonable searches and seizures garnered support from all the groups, while the right to bear arms, the right to legal counsel and freedom of the press couldn't muster a single vote.
Anstead responded with a brief history of the rationale behind the right to bear arms and the importance of a free press in encouraging debate.
"One way to strive for justice," he reminded the class, "is to complain about injustice."
Supreme Court Justice Barbra Pariente will conduct a similar session at Jupiter High School today.
[/quote]
[This message has been edited by RepublicThunderbolt (edited October 01, 1999).]