Supreme Court Justices Engage Students at Boys, Girls State - Articles

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Supreme Court Justices Engage Students at Boys, Girls State

Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Jul 21, 2026

The Tennessee Supreme Court continued its longstanding SCALES (Supreme Court Advancing Legal Education for Students) program this year, engaging with rising high school seniors at both Volunteer Girls State and Volunteer Boys State. Justices Sarah Campbell and Mary Wagner took part in the 80th American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) Volunteer Girls State (VGS) session at Lipscomb University, where they held a candid fireside chat that ALA VGS Chair Jenise Gordon said gives the roughly 500 attendees "permission to be ambitious and uncertain at the same time." Meanwhile, Chief Justice Jeff Bivins and colleagues visited the 87th Volunteer Boys State at Tennessee Tech University, where 400 young men observed oral arguments and interacted with justices off the bench. Since 1995, SCALES has brought the state's judiciary directly to these mock-government programs — which together have educated tens of thousands of Tennessee students since the 1940s — with organizers crediting the experience for inspiring many delegates to pursue law careers. Read more in a press release from the Administrative Office of the Courts.