Concluding an eleven-week program in which middle schools partnered with legal mentors from area law offices, law schools, and state offices, Boston, Brookline, Medford & Waltham students gathered for an in-person Mock Appeal at the John Joseph Moakley U.S Courthouse (One Courthouse Way, Boston, MA) to present their cases about the First Amendment.

Boston, Brookline, Medford & Waltham students presented their case and were questioned by a mock appellate panel comprised of real-life judges and attorneys on Jordan King v. Granger High School– a First Amendment case that centers a timely discussion on free speech in schools. It involves suspending a student after a climate change campaign on TikTok sparked bullying allegations.

“This year’s program highlights the complexities of the First Amendment, an issue that is being raised on campuses across the country,” said Matt Wilson, Executive Director of Discovering Justice. “This spring the students in Boston, Brookline, Medford & Waltham and across the Commonwealth had the unique opportunity to learn about the challenges balancing free speech and personal and community safety.”

This Spring, 29 middle schools across the Commonwealth participated in the Discovering Justice Mock Appeal Program, to appeal the ruling on the Jordan King v. Granger High School case argued in the fall during our Mock Trial Program. Statewide, the program serves more than 300 students with the help of more than 130 volunteer attorneys and 30 state and federal judges.

Discovering Justice is a civic education non-profit that provides after-school programs as well as in-school civics and social studies curricula for K-12 students across Massachusetts. Taught by experienced volunteer legal mentors, students in the Mock Appeal Program learn about how the appellate process works, grapple with real constitutional issues, develop persuasive arguments, and practice responding to an appellate panel of federal and state judges and attorneys.