Vol. 37, Number 2 —February 2005

Federal Judiciary Gives Educators a Look at Terrorism Cases

The federal Judiciary is helping high school educators teach their students how federal courts handle terrorism cases.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in the District of Columbia helped launch the new outreach initiative by hosting 75 teachers from across the country who participated in an Oxford-style debate on terrorism-related issues.

The program was first implemented in November by Chief Judge Consuelo Bland Marshall in the Central District of California, as part of a Teachers Institute for 21 Los Angeles-area high school teachers.

The most recent day-long event in the District of Columbia was held in the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse on Martin Luther King Day, and featured teams of teachers debating a series of questions. Two related questions were key to the discussion:

• Do the federal courts have the jurisdiction to grant relief to foreign detainees who challenge their confinement at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba?
  
  
• Should the rights and liberties in the Constitution follow the U.S. military presence wherever it is?

The teachers, who collectively reach more than 9,000 students on a daily basis, took away a simulation and materials for use in their classrooms. Every teacher who participated in the D.C. event said he or she would utilize the lesson with students. The program materials are available to other federal courts.

“The enthusiastic response of the teachers who participated,” Lamberth said, “demonstrated the long-term value of the program for the Judiciary."