July 8, 2016 – Middle and High school teachers from NYC and Albany attended a five day professional development summer institute at the Thurgood Marshall Courthouse. As part of a US Dept. of Ed’s James Madison Legacy grant, teachers participated in outstanding sessions facilitated by scholars ( federal judges and law professors) based on the civic education materials, “We The People: The Citizen & The Constitution.” Teachers were assigned expert “We The People” Mentors to assist with implementation of a mock court hearing.
Federal judges and law professors presented topics on the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. The judges included: Honorable Reena Raggi & Gerad E. Lynch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of N.Y , Judge Paul Oetken, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of N.Y. , Judge Joseph Bianco of the U.S. District for the Southern District of N.Y. and Magistrate Judge James Francis IV. The law Professors included: Chris Riano of Columbia University, Jeffrey Morris of Touro Law School, Steve Gilles & Martin Margulies of Quinnipiac Law School ,Myriam Gilles & Julie C. Suk of Cardozo Law School , Aaron Saiger & Benjamin Zipursky of Fordham Law School and Emily Gold Waldman of Pace Law School . Judges D’Agostino, Moses, Peck, Trust, Maas and Stewart presided over a mock court hearing on the final day. All of this was made possible by Chief Judge Robert Katzmann.
