“Your honors, may I start?” Magda Khedr clears her throat and addresses the court.
After a quick nod from one of the three justices, the prosecutor begins her opening argument. “We contend that the search of Carmen Bundy’s phone,” Khedr says, “was a clear violation of her Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.”
And so begins a day-long trial in New York City. In this case, the prosecutor is a high school senior from Staten Island. It’s part of an annual moot-court competition, and students from more than 30 city high schools spend weeks researching and preparing their cases.
The justices are Fordham University law students. Their ruling carries no legal weight, but it teaches students how government works.
For many young people, the legal system is a black box: they know inputs and outputs but not what happens in the room where decisions are made. Now in its 41st year, this program aims to change that as part of a city-wide civics curriculum.
The case Khedr, who attends Susan E. Wagner High School, prosecutes is fictional: a student involved in a prank is summoned to the assistant principal’s office for questioning. While inside, the school resource officer searches her phone and does not read her Miranda rights.
Khedr argues the search was unlawful. Brianna Mojica, a senior at New York City’s High School for Law, Advocacy and Community Justice, counters that the meeting wasn’t really an interrogation.
“Just because a school resource officer who is a certified law enforcement officer is present doesn’t mean the questioning is custodial,” Mojica says in her opening statement. “Similar to how the presence of a priest doesn’t turn a gathering into a church service.”
A national spotlight on civics education
Civics is traditionally a bipartisan field, but it has been in the news recently. The administration announced a coalition of conservative groups to reshape civics education ahead of the country’s 250th anniversary, saying the effort aims to renew patriotism, strengthen civic knowledge, and advance a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools.
The spotlight comes as national test scores from the Nation’s Report Card show declining civics scores for eighth graders since 2014, amid concerns about polarization and threats to democratic norms.
Louise Dubé, CEO of iCivics, a nonpartisan nonprofit founded by retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, says civics is not just government or history but a suite of skills. “In a democracy, disagreement is baked in,” she says. “So what we’re looking for are skills to talk to people you disagree with in a civil manner to try to resolve problems.”
iCivics provides free materials to help students learn concepts like the three branches of government, checks and balances, and the philosophies behind the nation’s founding, while encouraging participation and community service.
“We want all our students to have a baseline understanding of government, right?” says Michael Seif, senior program manager at the Justice Resource Center, which oversees Fordham’s moot court competition and other civics programs. “We want students to understand the importance of oral advocacy, to be able to look at law-related and civic-related issues analytically and critically, and be able to apply them in their lives.”
Confident, informed citizens
For students in the month-long competition, the courtroom experience proves more engaging than a lecture. The law-student judges don’t issue binding decisions; they offer feedback and scores that determine whether teams advance.
Judges praised both students’ confidence and preparation. Mojica received one notable compliment. “We all mentioned this when we conferred,” Emily Knight, a third-year Fordham law student and one of the justices, said. “The analogy you had about the priest was great.”
Knight added that all the students should be proud: “It’s so impressive. I certainly was in no position to do anything like this in high school.”
Marla Kleinman, a social studies teacher at Wagner High School who helped prepare Khedr and the prosecution team, says finding students’ voices is central to the school’s civics-focused curriculum.
No matter the topic, she tells her students: “It’s okay to challenge ideas, not people.”
