American Legion Boys State delegates from high schools in all 95 counties will participate June 2 in the SCALES Program, an acronym for the Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students. SCALES, a Tennessee Supreme Court initiative, educates young Tennesseans about the judicial branch of government.
The 630 students will attend a special Supreme Court session at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville as part of the week-long Boys State program, sponsored by The American Legion. The 11th grade boys, who are in the top one-third of their high school classes, will hear oral arguments in two actual Supreme Court cases.
Circuit Court Judge John Maddux of Cookeville is coordinating the SCALES Project at Boys State . More than 12,500 students from 285 schools across the state have taken part in SCALES since the Supreme Court initiated it in 1995.
"It is important for these young leaders to fully understand the judicial system and its role in our society,” Chief Justice Frank Drowota said. “SCALES provides them with an opportunity to see the system first-hand.”
Issues in the civil cases students will hear at Boys State include whether divorced parents who share equal custody of children should have to pay child support and whether any support ordered by the court should be based on income. The students also will hear a case in which the court will decide whether a person seeking damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress caused by witnessing the injury or death of another must be related to the victim.
Each participant will receive a handbook containing information about the state and federal court systems and the two cases. In addition, Maddux and other lawyers and judges will conduct educational sessions with the students.