Why Support the NH Supreme Court Society?

As a lawyer that focuses on only a couple practice areas, one of which is Appellate Litigation, I support the New Hampshire Supreme Court Society because I strongly support its underlying values and goals:

  • to increase public awareness of the life of the law
  • the importance of having educated citizens who understand our Constitution
  • most of all, the need for civics education in our schools

The NH Supreme Court is the only appellate court in New Hampshire, which is unusual. Most States have an intermediate-level appellate court that serves the function of "error correction," which means overturning the results of trials where a trial judge made an error of law that could have made a difference in the outcome. That way, the highest Court of the State can focus on the interpretation of the law and provisions of the State's Constitution. But NH has only one appellate court, which does it all.

There is nothing that gives me greater pride in my professional work, than arguing before the NH Supreme Court. That is partly because of the importance and gravity of the cases, partly because of the high quality of the judges, but maybe most of all because I feel like I'm part of something so much bigger than myself when I walk into that majestic courtroom.

Problems with American Civics Education

When I taught Criminal Justice at Plymouth State University several years back, pre-pandemic, I was alarmed by how little most of my students knew about civics, how our democracy and government works. This is a four-year college and all of my students were sophomore or higher. Yet, after I assigned a short chapter that featured a picture just like this one captioned "The United States Supreme Court",

at least half of my students answered the following multiple-choice quiz question incorrectly:

"How many justices are on the United States Supreme Court?

A: 3.

B-9.

C: 18.

D:27

I intended that to be a question no one could get wrong, even if they only read the chapter as a "picture book," even if they knew nothing about the US Supreme Court. But the majority of the students gave answers other than "9", including the absurd answers "3" and "27".

And these are college students, mostly from New England, the graduates of supposedly good public and private schools, with good enough grades to get into a good school.

Without better civics education at all levels of school instruction, our democracy cannot survive.

Openness and Outreach are part of the answer.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court is unusually open and accessible compared to appellate courts in other States, and especially compared to the United States Supreme Court. They routinely go "on the road" and schedule oral arguments in high schools, so students and faculty can see first-hand how our justice system works. When I have participated in those "on the road" arguments, the Court has asked the prosecutor and I to address the students about our jobs, about the process of lawyering, and answer their questions. It's incredibly enriching and meaningful work, so when I receive a Notice of Oral Argument like this one: 2022-09-16-Oral Argument Notice I feel a swell of pride, but also even more stress about the argument: With the members of the Court watching me argue and seeing behind me, the entire assembly of a public high school, I feel like I am not only representing a client, but representing and putting on display the history and traditions of our legal system. Traditions that I cherish.

For readers who value our democracy, I urge you to support organizations that bring civics education to students and the broader community, like the NH Supreme Court Society.

2024-01-12-Letter from Supreme Court Society

--- Ted Lothstein