Students Face Judges … in the Classroom

Judge Mike Witte speaks to students at Frank McLarin High School in College Park, Ga.

Students at Frank McClarin High School in College Park, Ga., heard about the Constitution from the lips of its interpreters as 15 judges visited the classrooms yesterday as part of the American Bar Association Midyear Meeting in Atlanta.

“Judges are the people who make sure the Constitution doesn’t become just a piece of paper that can get thrown away,” said retired Judge Mike Witte of Indianapolis. Witte is the head of the ABA Judicial Division.

“We talked about different Supreme Court cases, and he asked us what we would do in that case,” said Malcolm Kemp, a senior attending the event.

Rodney Stafford’s math class was canceled for Witte’s lecture. “He made it real for us, what it’s like to be a judge,” she said. “I had a ‘judge moment’ in there, too.”

McClarin High School has about 350 students, and is an alternative school. Many students, said principal Anita Lee, only think of hearing from judges in situations where they aren’t likely to make a personal connection with the judge.