For Immediate Release
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CONTACT: Amanda K. Todd
Court Information Officer
(608) 264-6256 |
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High schools visit Wisconsin Supreme Court
Dec. 3, 1999 - High school students from across
Wisconsin have watched oral agruments before the Wisconsin Supreme Court
and talked with the justices, thanks to Court with Class, a
program sponsored by the court and the State Bar of Wisconsin.
Court with Class has won two national awards since its
inception three years ago. The program's aim is to enrich the high
school civics curriculum by bringing high school students from around
the state to watch a Supreme Court hearing and meet with a justice.
Prior to the field trips, teachers receive a variety of teaching
materials from the Supreme Court and the State Bar of Wisconsin.
The program brings a total of approximately 1,000 high school
students to the Supreme Court during each Court term (September -
June).
Students from across the state visit the court
Forty-one students from Middleton and twenty from Sauk Prairie high
schools watched a civil case on appeal from the City of Glendale, in
Milwaukee County. In this case, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will
determine whether employers (in this case, Wisconsin municipalities) may
negotiate a change in health care benefits with an employees' union, and
then impose those changes upon retired employees.
Twenty-five students from Eisenhower High School watched a criminal
appeal from Milwaukee County Circuit Court in which the Supreme Court
will decide whether there was an adequate factual basis for the
defendant to have pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless homicide
while armed with a dangerous weapon. The students (along with twenty-one
students from Kaukauna High School) also watched a criminal appeal in an
Adams County sexual assault case. In this case, the Supreme Court will
clarify when information about other crimes (unrelated to the crime for
which the defendant is on trial) may be admitted into evidence for use
in establishing a motive.
Twenty students from Waupaca and eighty students from Wisconsin
Rapids Lincoln high schools watched an appeal from Racine County Circuit
Court in which the Supreme Court will harmonize conflicting Wisconsin
case law on whether judgments docketed against homestead owners become a
lien on the homestead property when the owner sells it. They also
watched an appeal from Sheboygan County Circuit Court in which the
Supreme Court will decide whether uninsured motorist coverage covers a
policyholder when an object of unknown origin hits the person's
vehicle.
Thirty students from West Allis Central High School watched a case in
which the Wisconsin Supreme Court will decide whether the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) subjects an employer's "agent" (generally a
supervisor or manager) to individual liability for discrimination. The
circuit court (in Milwaukee County) said it does not, but the Court of
Appeals reversed that judgment.
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