To help explain the significance of what school children and adults see, a project is underway to create a space within the Southern Indiana District Court building that will teach about the third branch of government. The Federal Court Learning Center will showcase some of the artifacts from the Southern Indiana District as well as feature informational displays and interactive exhibits. Visitors will learn how the federal judiciary works, how it is different from the state courts and the roles citizens play in the judicial process.
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The decision to postpone Indiana’s primary election was met with bipartisan approval and raised hopes the state will be encouraged to permanently expand access to absentee voting.
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The Indiana Court of Appeals has wrapped up its pursuit of visiting every county through its Appeals on Wheels program. Introduced during the appellate court’s centennial in 2001, the traveling program has ventured statewide to high schools, colleges, law schools and other venues, promoting civics education by inviting local communities to observe how the appellate judiciary works.
Read MoreRecently retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has become the honorary co-chairman of a nonpartisan group devoted to education about the Constitution, joining Justice Neil Gorsuch at a time of intense political polarization and rising skepticism about the court’s independence.
More than 120 attorneys and judicial officers gathered at the BASH venue in Carmel on June 24 to celebrate the Indiana Bar Foundation’s civic education milestones and civil legal assistance during its inaugural Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon.
If you voted in the May 3 Indiana primary elections, you participated in a taxpayer-funded process that underwrites the parties’ cost of nominating their candidates. And the two major parties have created a system in which only the most active partisans are urged to vote on primary day.
The Indiana Bar Foundation, long a champion of civics education, is preparing materials and programs to help teachers now that the Indiana State Board of Education has approved the academic standards for the new middle school civics course.
The Fishers High School team made history by finishing second among 47 teams from across the country who competed in the 2022 National We the People Finals in April. This is the highest any Indiana high school team has ever placed.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb recently appointed members of the Hoosier legal community to the state’s Public Defender Commission and a newly created Indiana Civic Education Commission.
Two years after undertaking specific steps to improve Hoosiers’ civic engagement, the Indiana Bar Foundation and its partners are celebrating advancements in the education arena but are also continuing to find challenges in getting voters to the polls.
After offering recommendations to improve the state’s civic health in 2019, the Indiana Bar Foundation and its partners recently took an assessment and found Hoosiers are excelling at improving civic education but continuing to stumble at increasing voter turnout.
With a name that easily gets confused with other Hoosier legal organizations, the Indiana Bar Foundation realized it needed to make a change. But after stakeholders said they wanted to keep the moniker, the nonprofit opted to refresh its logo.
The We the People 2021 Middle School Regional Championship hosted by the Indiana Bar Foundation has concluded, with the top three champions from 2020 again being among the 14 teams advancing to the state championship.
Indiana’s new civic education law will be showcased during the second day of a national civic education policy summit hosted by CivXNow, which is bringing legislators, educators and civic leaders from across the country together to discuss ways to improve children’s understanding of democracy.
The event provides an opportunity for government and social studies teachers in Indiana middle and high schools to learn about the operations of Indiana’s federal courts.
House Enrolled Act 1384, authored by Cicero Republican Anthony Cook, mandates that a civics curriculum be developed and implemented into Indiana middle schools starting with the 2023-2024 academic year. The bill rode through the Statehouse collecting only one no vote and was signed into law April 8 by Gov. Eric Holcomb.
The Indiana Bar Foundation is making a final call for volunteers to serve as judges during the 2021 National High School Mock Trial Championship in mid-May.
The Indiana Bar Foundation, with the support of several major law firms, has launched a diversity initiative designed to remove financial barriers that can prevent high school students from participating in mock trial programs.
A bill incorporating civics education into Hoosier students’ middle school curriculum is headed to Gov. Eric Holcomb’s desk after House lawmakers voted Thursday to pass the measure.
In a year without an election, The Indiana Citizen, a nonprofit focused on increasing voter turnout, is transforming its website into a source of news and information about Hoosier politics, elected officials and civic issues that attorney co-founder Bill Moreau described as “our new venture into accountability journalism.”
The memories of Indiana legal professionals who have worked in the Capitol contrast with Tuesday’s images of an angry mob storming through the 100-year-old doors, breaking windows and meandering across the rotunda. “I take it personally,” one said.
Saying the rights provided in the Constitution come with obligations, the Indiana Bar Foundation has issued a statement condemning Wednesday’s attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.
As courts nationwide are celebrating the anniversary of the ratification of the Constitution’s first 10 Amendments during the month of December, families are invited to join in during a Wednesday evening event.