Maine West students dive deep into Supreme Court program

Two Maine West students have been traveling three times a month to the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in downtown Chicago to participate in the Supreme Court Historical Society program titled Supreme Court and My Hometown.

Hearing about the program through their Mock Trial sponsor, 11th grader Megan Claussen and 12th grader Gisele Mansour jumped at the opportunity to work closely with federal and state judges, attorneys, historians, prosecutors and other students interested in the law profession.

“I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer so this opportunity really sparked my interest and seemed like a great way to learn from those in the field,” Claussen said. “Working downtown with the lawyers that I want to be when I’m older, this could not have been more of a perfect opportunity!”

The Supreme Court Historical Society is dedicated to preserving and collecting the rich history of the United States Supreme Court while educating the public on its role in the government today. To do that, the society promotes civic education by hosting a wide range of programs for students, teachers, legal professionals, scholars, historians and members of the public who are interested in the court’s legacy and impact.

To be accepted into this high level program, students who were interested had to submit a letter of recommendation highlighting their academic and personal qualities. Students who applied had to be top scholars. After their acceptance, Claussen and Mansour had to attend a two-day orientation that was held in July.

“There are 30 kids throughout the entire Chicagoland area participating in the program,” Mansour said. “They looked at grades and they had questions where you would have to fill out different short response essays on why you would like to do the program and then include different extracurriculars that you are involved in.”

To meet the goal of having students explore and learn about the importance of the judicial branch, Claussen and Mansour dove deep into the local case of Escobedo v. Illinois (1964). In this case, Danny Escobedo, a 22-year-old Chicago resident who was suspected of murder, repeatedly asked to speak with his lawyer during police questioning but was denied. After hours of interrogation without legal help, Escobedo made statements that were later used to arrest him. He argued that this violated his Sixth Amendment right to an attorney and the case eventually reached the Supreme Court.

Participants of the program were then asked to discover how this influential case led to the value and importance of the Sixth Amendment. At the end of the program which wraps up in April, Claussen and Mansour will be asked to complete a final capstone project based on the information they gathered.

“The capstone project will essentially be educating the public about people’s Sixth Amendment rights, when you have the right to bring in an attorney and how the Sixth Amendment is beneficial to the public,” Mansour said.

“It is so cool to see the work those in the field do behind the scenes,” Claussen said. “Shows like ‘Suits’ or ‘Law and Order’ capture the fun parts of it, but (the shows) don’t capture the everyday stuff. This experience really just showed me that I like all aspects of the field and that’s a really good feeling.”