Kansas Supreme Court meets in Manhattan for special session

Students in Manhattan had the chance to get an inside look at the Kansas Supreme Court.

Monday night’s session was part of the court’s traveling docket – bringing the court to the public.

Justices set up in Manhattan High School’s auditorium - instead of their usual Topeka courtroom - to hear oral arguments for two cases.

Elizabeth Chapman, a junior at Manhattan High School went out of her way to make sure she made it.

"I changed my schedule so I could be here and experience it live," she said.

The travel is part of the court’s ongoing outreach program to help familiarize Kansans with how the court works.

Chief Justice Lawton Nuss said, "Since 2011 our court has made an effort to be more accessible to the nearly three-million Kansans that we serve by seeing firsthand who we are, what we do, and how we do it."

Chapman said many of her classmates came.

"A lot of us, especially in my AP-US history class, we're really interested in history and also the government and how it works, a lot of us are here," she said.

Jamia Roberts, another Manhattan High School Junior said that earlier in the day, court representatives spoke to about 1,100 students at the high school.

"They had a couple people come in and talk to us about how the Supreme Court system works, talk about the constitution, the Kansas constitution, and it was just really cool how they're applying it tonight," she said.

Though a large portion of the crowd was students, anyone was invited to sit in and see how the court works, then personally meet the members of the court afterward.

In the courts 157-year history - this is only the ninth time it's met in the evening.

Chief justice Lawton Nuss says they met later so people wouldn't have to miss out because of work or school.