Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis makes a
point about the right to bear arms.

(BRADENTON, FL - September 28, 2007) Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis stood in the media center at Braden River Middle School recently and challenged students to a test.

He asked the students to select five of the 10 rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights to keep, and five rights to give up. The students decided to keep the following rights: freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, freedom of religion, freedom of the press and protection from self incrimination.

The students - members of teacher Dave Barcena's eighth-grade American History class - felt pretty satisfied with their selections until Chief Justice Lewis started speaking about the ramifications of their choices.

“It's going to be pretty hard to have freedom of the press if you don't have the right to peaceably assemble,” Chief Justice Lewis said. “You're right to bear arms might not stand up too well if you don't have the right of protection from unreasonable searches and seizures; and your protection from self-incrimination might not mean too much if you don't have the right to legal counsel.”

After digesting the logic of the Chief Justice's point, the students let out a collective groan.

The purpose of the exercise, of course, was to show the students the importance of all of our constitutionally guaranteed rights, and how they work together to provide U.S. citizens freedom and protection.

Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis visites with
Manatee County School Board member
Robert Gause.

The Chief Justice made the visit to Braden River Middle as part of his work with “Justice Teaching,” an organization that pairs public schools across Florida with judges and lawyers to emphasize the importance of civic education.

“Civics is all about how we live together in a society, how we resolve our disputes in a peaceable way and how we make the rules that we live by,” said the Chief Justice. “If these kids don't know what their rights are, how in the world are they going to know if they lose one of them.”

Chief Justice Lewis said he got actively involved in civics education when he saw studies that revealed 50 percent or more of Americans could not name the three branches of the United States government. As part of his involvement with Justice Teaching, he visits two to three schools a month.

“We don't place the same priority on civics education as we do on subjects like science and math,” Chief Justice Lewis said. “Because of that, civic education suffers.”

Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis speacks to
students at Braden River Middle School.

Braden River Middle School Principal Randy Petrilla was thrilled to have the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court visit his school.

“It's an honor to have Chief Justice Lewis here,” Petrilla said. “It's a great learning experience for our kids and I think the program he's promoting around the state is wonderful.”

Students who had the opportunity to meet and visit with the Chief Justice were also impressed.

“I thought it was interesting getting to learn new stuff and getting to meet the head of the Florida Supreme Court,” said eighth-grader Elvis Orr.

Orr's classmate, Lexi Falanga, agreed.

“I'm actually considering becoming a lawyer,” Falanga said. “I have a copy of the Constitution at home; it just fascinates me. Meeting a Supreme Court Justice is pretty cool, because that's the career field I intend to go into.”