sandra day o'connor

There are few Justices out there that are as hip as Sandra D. Seems the good x-Justice has been spending her time working on video games.

NYTimes reports that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has gone from her post on the US Supreme Court to working to develop video games that create real life scenarios for students to learn the law and create interest in ways to change laws.

"If you imagine what Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is doing in her retirement, you might not come up with this: designing provocative clothing for virtual avatars to wear in a multi-player online game.

But potentially offensive T-shirts, and the First Amendment issues they may raise, are in fact a key part of the computer game that the retired justice is helping design as part of an elaborate civics education program she is sponsoring.

The first section of the game is about a First Amendment issue like a t-shirt that a kid wears to school. This is similar to the real life case of the kid who made a sign that said "bong hits 4 Jesus" for a local school rally.

"Justice O’Connor didn’t describe the actual game play, but she said it will involve players taking different roles in a court argument.

“We will have them arguing real cases, real issues, against the computer and against each other,” she said. “We will use what we know about young people’s enthusiasm for arguing things, for problem-solving and for playing games to get them into this world.”

Later, Justice O’Connor would like to add a case about the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. And down the road, she said she hopes to create similar simulations for the legislative and executive branches of government."

I really respect what the Justice is doing and truly admire the attempts at doing these kinds of educational materials. I worry, however, that this only educates and doesn't necessarily promote the idea of civic engagement.

When you look at the middle school level, I don't know if kids are going to make the link between the way the law is and their power to change what they don't like. We have a hard enough time making that connection for adults and college students who are new registrants.

I would have to see the game or the lesson plan to really understand more about how they are making that link but I'm encouraged and hopeful though admittedly cautious as well. Regardless, its a pretty smokin Justice if she's making video games. That's pretty cool.