by KYW's Steve Tawa
Students at Philadelphia's Constitution High School presented a classroom mock trial on Thursday in a packed courtroom - and retired US Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor (in file photo) presided.
The new mock trial courtroom was named in honor of the first woman on the high court. The magnet school near 7th and Market Streets focuses on civic and legal education. She told the students she was inspired by their work:
"I am particularly so because civics education is in a crisis in our country."
Justice O'Connor says 21st century students are "learning by doing:"
"You're teaching here in ways that are problem and discovery based, rather than just out of a textbook."
Then Justice O'Connor and federal appeals judge Midge Rendell heard the students present their mock trial:
"Objection overruled."
Among the dignitaries sitting in the jury box, Mayor Nutter, who politely excused himself, before rendering a verdict -- Constitution High principal Tom Davidson said that was the mark of a good politician. Arthur Makadon, the chairman of the big Philadelphia law firm Ballard Spahr, voted for a mis-trial.
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