- Our planet is in chaos.

Our waters are polluted, our air is poisoned.

We have no laws go forth through space to the planet Earth.

Learn from them.

We have so little time left.

- Take me to your leaders.

- Who are you?

What do you want?

- My planet is in trouble.

We need your help.

Please take me to your leaders.

- Okay.

I'm glad I'm working on this case.

I keep learning more things.

All this knowledge makes me feel good, kind of well powerful.

So far, we've learned about the executive and legislative branches of government.

Let's go investigate the judicial branch.

The judicial branch of government includes all the courts in the state and the judges who preside over them.

We elect judges for terms of six years to serve in the different levels of the judicial branch.

I stopped by the Steubenville Courthouse to meet with Judge Richard Powell.

When I got there, court was in session.

The lowest level court in Ohio is the municipal court.

A municipal court judge decides cases with damages under $10,000.

All traffic cases are heard by this judge.

This judge may decide to give a fine or a jail sentence to those who break the law.

Another level of courts is the common plea court.

A common plea court judge hears cases with damages over $10,000.

He or she also hears cases concerning children, divorce and wills.

If a person doesn't agree with a decision a judge makes in one of the lower courts, he or she may appeal the decision to a higher court called the appellate court.

If the case still isn't decided satisfactorily, it may then be appealed to the highest court in Ohio.

The Ohio Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, like the governor's office, is located in Columbus, the state capitol.

Let's go to Columbus Now.

The Supreme Court has seven judges called Justices.

I met with a Chief Justice Judge, Thomas Moyer.

Another important function of the judicial branch is to decide what laws mean and to be sure the laws agree with our written plans of government, the city charter, and the Ohio Constitution.

In this way, the judicial branch of government serves to balance the power of the other two branches, the executive and the legislative.

With all these levels of courts, I still have some questions about the judicial branch of government.

Let's get back to my office.

Hi, is everybody back?

I still need your help.

Now, some of you have phones right in your classrooms, and in a few minutes I'm gonna ask you to call me.

But first I wanna introduce you to some very special people here in my office are Justice Thomas Moyer, the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court and Judge Richard Powell, municipal Court Judge from Steubenville, Ohio.

Thank you both for being with us today.

Now also with me are two of my assistant privatized, Megan Hahn from Marietta Middle School, and Aaron Applebaum from Bere Middle School.

Okay.

Now I know that you have questions about the judicial branch of government and well, we have some questions too.

So we'll start with questions about the Supreme Court.

Now, the first question for Justice Moyer is from Aaron.

Go ahead.

What made you decide to - Become a judge?

- I've always enjoyed the, the process of weighing issues and hearing both sides of an argument.

And I started doing that when I was in high school, I guess, and some activities there.

And so I thought one day I'd like to be be on a court.

And so after practicing law and being in government for a couple of years or several years, I, I, I became a judge.

- Okay.

Megan, just as more, how did you run your campaign to become the Supreme Court Justice?

Hmm.

- Campaigns for Supreme Court Justices in Ohio are very much like other campaigns are for other statewide offices.

We have to raise money and we put on campaigns on tv and we meet with a lot of groups.

We travel around the state and meet with various people and groups, organizations that are interested in our campaigns.

And so our, our campaigns are very much like, like other campaigns for other candidates.

- Okay.

Aaron, if I wanted to become a Supreme Court justice, how would I do it?

- Well, you'd have to be, you'd have to be admitted to the, to the, the bar in Ohio, which means you'd have to be a lawyer in Ohio for for six years.

And all judges in Ohio, judge Powell and Judge and I and I are both elected to our courts no matter what court it is.

And so you would, you would, you would want to have a, a good background as a, as a lawyer.

And then, then you decide to run for office and, and you, and you run.

- Okay.

Megan, how many years have you been a Supreme Court Justice?

How many years are left and do you plan to run again?

- Okay.

I'm starting my seventh year and of, of, of a, a new six year term.

And I don't know yet whether I'll run again, that that will be 12 years when I'm finished with this term.

And, and I'll make a decision on that later.

- Okay.

After you become a Supreme Court Justice, how do you become a chief Justice?

- Well, actually in Ohio under our constitution, the Chief Justice is elected to that position, unlike some other states where the Chief Justice position rotates among the judges on the court in Ohio, it's a, it is a position on the court that's a separate position from the others.

And so anyone can run.

In fact, I was not a justice of the, on the Supreme Court when I ran for Chief Justice, I was on a, one of the courts of appeals that were mentioned.

And so I ran for, for Chief Justice.

- Okay.

Megan, what other jobs have you held in your career?

- I've been an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Ohio.

I've been in the private practice of law.

I was the chief of staff, executive assistant to the governor of Ohio for four years.

And, and then I was on the Court of Appeals before being on the Supreme Court.

- Okay.

Aaron highlighted at Coastline Columbus that the Supreme Court only hears 10% of the cases brought before them.

Is this true?

And if so, why?

- Yeah.

All, all courts of last resort, all Supreme Courts, whether it's the US Supreme Court or Supreme Court of Estate, has discretion to decide the cases that, that they will take on review and, and decide the merits.

And the reason is our const, our state constitution says that the Supreme Court shall hear cases of public or great general interest.

And in some other cases we have to like a death penalty case.

We have to hear that.

But generally, you're, you're correct.

We, we have about 18, 1900 applications by people who've lost in, in, in the appellate court asking us to, to review their case because their case is a case of public or great general interest, which just means that it's a case had, there are issues in the case that will probably occur again.

And so that judges and lawyers and others need to know what, what the law is.

The final law is on, on that, on that issue.

And so that's why we, we take just about 10% of, of the cases.

Okay.

- Megan, what happens to the cases that aren't heard?

The - Cases that, that are not heard?

If somebody appeals to us and we don't take their case, the judgment of, of the appellate court will be the final judgment.

So in most cases, the intermediate appellate courts, we are 12 of them.

There are about 67, 68 of those judges in Ohio.

In most cases, those, those decisions are the final decisions.

- Okay.

Well, right now we have some questions about the municipal court.

So the court first question for Judge Powell is from Megan.

Megan, what do you do - As a judge every day inside and outside of the courtroom?

- Well, the first thing I do, Megan, I look over to see what cases we're going to have in court that day, and I go over those cases so that I am familiar with the basic case, the names, what happened, who the lawyers are.

Then I go into the courtroom and I hear those cases.

When I say I hear those cases, I mean, I hear from the police officer, I hear from the person who has maybe been involved in an automobile accident.

I hear from witnesses like a person walking along the street or a passenger in the car.

And after I hear those cases, I make a decision on who was right, who was wrong.

And sometimes I go back into my office and work on those cases after court and then make a decision.

- Okay.

Aaron, judge Powell, what were your reasons for becoming a municipal court judge?

- Well, I had been a lawyer for about 25 years, and I had always had kind of in the back of my mind that someday I wanted to be a judge.

And I, I felt that I was qualified because I'd had a lot of experience in all different kinds of cases.

And so in 1983, an opening occurred that is, there was an election for municipal court judge, so I decided to run to seek that office, and I ran for it, and I was successful.

- Megan, not mentioning any names, what was your favorite try about and why was it your favorite?

- Well, I would answer that Megan by saying, I, I guess the, the favorite trials that I have are small claims cases because you're dealing with the really human beings in that setting where they're representing themselves, there are no lawyers involved, and the issues are really down to earth and they're very important to people.

They're in there talking about dogs and fences and automobile repairs and all those type of everyday things.

And I find those cases most interesting.

And I find that people, after they have those cases decided, whether it's decided against them or for them, they usually leave the courtroom satisfied and they've put that case behind them and they don't worry about it anymore.

- Aaron, what was your funniest experience will be the judge?

- I guess the funniest one that comes to my mind is that when I was first elected judge about 10 years ago, an older lady came in on a traffic accident and I was going to find her and she says, you can't find me.

I used to be your babysitter.

- Okay.

Well, right now I'd like to take some phone questions, so I have my speaker phone turned on so we can all hear the questions.

And the first question is for Justice Moyer, and it's from Jason from Frazzy Bird.

Jason, are you there?

- Yeah.

- Okay, Jason, ask your question.

- Justice Moyer, what subject that you studied in school best helped you prepare for your job?

- The best subject I studied in school without exception that helped me be a judge is English.

And I would urge every student to, to, I know English is not an exciting subject and oftentimes is not, and oftentimes seems, you know, like it's boring and so forth.

But English is a very, very important subject for somebody who wants to not just be a judge, but wants to be a good lawyer.

- Okay.

Our next question is for justice for Judge Powell, and it's from Jessica from Newport.

Jessica, are you there?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Ask your question.

- Do you travel to any other places besides our courtroom to hear cases, - Jessica?

I do once in a while, but mainly I just hear cases in my courtroom in Steubenville.

But every once in a while a judge in another county or another city cannot decide a case because he may be related to someone or has some particular interest in that case, and he will ask me to come over and hear the case for him.

Or the Supreme Court may decide that someone else should hear a case, and so they would assign me to a case in another courtroom.

- Okay.

Now the next question is for Justice Moyer and it's Nathan from Barnesville.

Nathan, - Do you study something or do you just think how long a person should be punished?

- Do we study some, do I study?

- Do you have to think a while to decide?

Okay.

- Yes.

The, the, the Supreme Court, we decide our case is based upon briefs that are filed by, which are arguments, written arguments filed by all the parties in the case.

And then we read those briefs and we have oral arguments, which is that, which is when the, the lawyers come into the courtroom and argue the case to us, argue their side of the case, and then the judges have to think about who's, you know, who should win.

And we, there's seven of us on the Supreme Court, and so we, we get together in a conference room and we discuss the case.

And during all that process of reading the briefs, hearing the oral arguments in our courtroom, and then meeting with our other judges and, and discussing the case, we, we make the decision in that way.

- Okay.

We have another phone question, and it's for Judge Powell, and it's Matt from Frazzy Bird.

Matt, - What Judge Powell, what advice would you give to future judges?

- Okay.

I, I think the best advice that I can give to any future judges is, first they must learn to be patient.

And second, they must learn to look upon that person as an individual.

And he or she is someone and they are really concerned about them, their problem.

And I think the judges have to show a lot of patience.

I think we have to treat people with respect in our courtroom.

I find that when I treat people with respect, they treat me with respect.

Okay.

But generally, I think that you have to treat people with dignity, respect, and concern.

- Okay.

Another phone question, and this is for Justice Moyer, and it's Josh from Newport.

Josh, - Yes.

- Would you like to ask your question?

- Yes.

- Okay.

Go ahead.

- Is your job fun?

Did you like your job when you first began - Josh?

I like my job so much that I ran for reelection last year and statewide, I, I do enjoy it.

And one reason I enjoy it is because it is an opportunity to see a lot of things happen in the entire justice system in Ohio.

I'm a strong believer that that our, our justice system, the third branch of government, is what really holds together a civilized society.

Because when people come to Judge Powell's courtroom or they come to the Supreme Court and they feel that, that, that the system has treated them fairly, even if they've lost, if they feel the system has treated them fairly, then they have confidence in resolving their disputes in peaceful ways, which is how we resolve disputes in our country.

And so I, I enjoy my job for a lot of reasons, but, but that's, to see the system work the way it does from, from the Supreme Court's position is, is very, very rewarding.

- I'd just like to thank everybody for participating.

Thank you both.

Just Justice Moer and Judge Powell.

And I thank my two assistants.

Thank you, Erin.

And thank you Megan.

And I'll see you guys next time, so bye.

This investigation is going great.

I hope you're learning as much as I am so far.

Ntic and I have learned that the judicial branch of government is a system of courts with different levels.

The courts decide the meanings of laws and judges are elected.

Now, before we move on to the next stage of our investigation, I wanna tell you about a challenge activity for you and your teacher.

Now listen carefully.

Today's challenge can be found on page 20 of the Teacher's Guide.

This challenge is to draw a cartoon that shows the bound of power in Ohio government by the end of next week, write to me Katie Sherlock to tell me about it.

Let me know what you did and what you learned.

I just need one letter per class and include your teacher's name and school address.

You can send your letters to me at the address you see on your screen.

See you next time.

- Take me to Your Leaders.

Was made possible by a grant from the Ohio Education Technology Equity Commission.