For ten weeks last fall, hundreds of Massachusetts middle school students were brimming with excitement. Through Discovering Justice’s Mock Trial program, student attorneys used a timely First-Amendment case (Jordan King v. Granger School District) to examine the interplay between social media, environmental justice, bullying, and free speech – hot-button topics that are only increasing in relevance and urgency, especially for students.

Discovering Justice’s 2023 Fall Mock Trial Final Event showcases were the largest of its kind in the program’s history. In 13 courthouses across the Commonwealth, 34 teams of over 400 total student attorneys presented their cases. Supporting the event were 180 legal mentors, 34 state and federal judges, 300+ volunteer jurors, and 36 teacher coordinators from 15 communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

Throughout the program, student attorneys wrestled with the tension between students’ right to free speech and the ability to come to school without being bullied. In Jordan King v. Granger School District, a high-school environmentalist brings a case against her school for violating her right to free speech. School administrators demand that she remove videos that she had posted on the TikTok social media platform to call out student peers for contributing to climate change. 

Discovering Justice Mock Trial and Mock Appeal Programs Manager Lisa Perez Tighe called the final events “inspiring,” describing courtrooms “filled with proud families and community members” who had gathered together to celebrate “the hard work done by the students, teachers, and legal mentors.” 

Added Tighe, “witnessing students learn firsthand about their constitutional rights highlights the critical civic and democratic ideals Discovering Justice endeavors to instill.”