Family Court judge talks story

PUHI — Gregory Meyers, a Family Court judge in the Fifth Circuit, state of Hawai‘i, created a scenario on Friday that could possibly take place within the field of eighth grade students at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School.

Without losing sight of the scenario players, Judge Meyers walked the highly-interactive class, and school officials who stopped in on the presentation, through the judicial process from a judge’s standpoint starting with the basic “where is the courthouse?”

Using a picture of Lady Justice and the three main elements surrounding her, Meyers peeled back the role of judges and the law that set up yet another facet of his presentation — the creation of law at the federal, state and county levels of government.

Meyers spent three different days at Chiefess Kamakaheli Middle School, ensuring that all eighth grade students received the information on how laws are created, the U.S. Constitution with emphasis on its amendments and due process.

“Even I learned something, today,” said CKMS Principal Jean Morris. “I should talk to all of our vice principals and have them stop in on the presentation if they haven’t done so, yet.”

The talk to the eighth graders is part of National Judicial Outreach Week that takes place during the first 10 days of March each year.

As an initiative of the American Bar Association (ABA) Judicial Division, the goal is to give public awareness about the importance of the courts in upholding the rule of law in the United States.

The ABA feels one of the most effective ways to promote public understanding and commitment to the nation’s courts is to have more members of the public, especially students and young people, meet more of the active and retired judges outside of the courtroom.

The ABA also sponsors Law Week in May and Constitution Day on Sept. 17 each year.

“I remember when I used to do Law Week at the farmers market,” Meyers said.