Iowa Supreme Court brings road show to Cedar Rapids

Iowa Supreme Court Justice Thomas Waterman estimates it has been about 10 years since the last time the court convened somewhere besides its Des Moines courtroom.

The justices seem intent on making up for lost time.

In addition to hearing oral arguments Thursday night at the College Community School District concert hall, the justices are making visits to nine local high schools during the Eastern Iowa trip, ranging from Marion to Clear Creek-Amana.

Waterman, who will be talking Friday to students at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, said the trip was long overdue.

“It's really important to get the court on the road to make it more accessible to the public,” he said.

Greater promotion of the role of Iowa's judicial branch comes months after Iowa voters decided not to retain three state supreme court justices. Waterman, who is a new addition to the court replacing one of the removed justices, said the vote highlighted a need to improve the public's knowledge of how the court worked.

The court heard oral arguments from two cases that covered very different backgrounds. The first involved a material witness from a Johnson County murder trial who had been incarcerated for four months to prevent him from fleeing jurisdiction. The second concerned a dispute where a man had sued his neighbor for cutting down trees on his property after the neighbor's death.

The justices will deliberate and decide to affirm or reverse the lower court rulings for the cases at a later date.

The audience for the legal proceedings mainly consisted of high school students from around the area. Some, such as Cedar Fall High School sophomore David Zager, 16, came as part of school projects.

Zager was assigned to interview a lawyer for his government class, so the Supreme Court's trip presented a good opportunity. He also is returning to his home country of Israel soon after living in America in 10 years, so he was excited to see the Supreme Court in action.

“It was a good learning experience,” he said. “It left me a good operating knowledge as to how the court works.”

Other students, such as those on the Xavier High School mock trial team, were there to pick up some tips they might be able to use at their next competition. Junior Ann Glavan, 17, said she was surprised how similar the proceedings were to her simulated trials.

“I heard a lot of the same quotes and lines that we use,” she said.

But many students, including a large group from host school Prairie High School, attended simply out of curiosity to see the highest judicial authority in Iowa in action. Junior Brooke Dixon, 17, heard about the event during morning announcements and decided to come out.

“It was a good opportunity to branch out and see things from a different perspective,” he said.