Our Courts
March 21, 2009 12:49 PM   Subscribe

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has a web site, about constitutional rights. Sometime this summer they're going to roll out two games for students to play to teach them about their rights under the Constitution.
posted by Chocolate Pickle (21 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
What'd be really great is if police officers played these games, too. Until then, they're pretty much irrelevant.
posted by LordSludge at 12:55 PM on March 21, 2009


There's a video of gameplay of the first game, and it is truly bizarre. What's with the robots? Especially in a discussion about the 13th Amendment? Are they trying to argue that robots and computers are entitled to civil rights?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:02 PM on March 21, 2009


I'd much rather have videos presented the same way as this Flex Your Rights video on traffic stops than.... video games? robots? what?
posted by dunkadunc at 1:08 PM on March 21, 2009


For a moment there I thought that was Justice Sarah Connor teaching us about robots and computers.
posted by doobiedoo at 1:12 PM on March 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


O'Connor was a great guest on the 3/3 Daily Show (plugginging this very site--the civics one, not MetaFilter. (Sorry, no link.) As far as this weird game goes, I don't think anyone over at Blizzard Entertainment or Nintendo will be losing much sleep.
posted by emhutchinson at 1:14 PM on March 21, 2009


The robots look like the usual "metal people" you get in these simplistic future worlds. So yeah, give 'em civil rights, why not.

The game apparently requires you to string logical and Constitutional arguments together through a card system. Much Phoenix Wright-style posturing ensues. In an entirely strange twist, you can also mine for ideas and conquer lands in the name of Law, instantly turning run-down bandit-infested hellholes into fresh green suburbs.

I think it looks good, assuming you actually have to put together logical arguments- it might help kids get past the "It's right because it's right" sort of thinking that leads to ridiculous legislation.
posted by Maxson at 1:17 PM on March 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


Are they trying to argue that robots and computers are entitled to civil rights?

damn right, meatbag.
posted by sexyrobot at 1:23 PM on March 21, 2009 [9 favorites]


As for the rest of the site, it looks like the sort of place a student goes to when he's got a day before his paper is due and has to find info somewhere. The videos aren't terrible, but definitely have that "hey kids" feel that public education videos reek of. The information is the sort of thing you get from reading an encyclopedia.

Right now, it looks like it'd be more valuable for teachers (curriculum building) than students.
posted by Maxson at 1:29 PM on March 21, 2009


> O'Connor was a great guest on the 3/3 Daily Show

I smiled throughout that entire interview. Coolest Supreme Court babe ever. Here's part one with part two on the page as well. (I think thedailyshow.com serves videos to non-US countries, but I can't recall.)
posted by shadytrees at 1:31 PM on March 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


Are they trying to argue that robots and computers are entitled to civil rights?

damn right, meatbag.


Ditto
posted by hal9k at 1:34 PM on March 21, 2009


She also makes her clerks go to an aerobics class every morning at 6am. That she teaches!
posted by unknowncommand at 1:35 PM on March 21, 2009


O'Connor doesn't rule by law, now self admitted.
posted by Mblue at 1:43 PM on March 21, 2009


Tomorrow's Sunday NY Times
posted by JohnnyGunn at 1:48 PM on March 21, 2009


Coolest Supreme Court babe ever.

Them's fightin' words!

said the Ruth Bader Ginsburg fangirl.
posted by naoko at 1:55 PM on March 21, 2009 [4 favorites]


Doctor Jellylike sl;med' it was a plain door.
posted by Mblue at 2:11 PM on March 21, 2009


While I think Sandra Day O'Connor is awesome, this website fails the primary web evil test: "Does the site feature images of smiling, generic people?"
posted by JHarris at 2:31 PM on March 21, 2009


Oooh, oooh, oooh! I want to play the game where, by judicial fiat, you subvert the Constitutionally mandated separation of powers in the interest of partisan political expediency, leading to the near-autocratic 8 year rule of a corporate fascist cabal at the end of which the world economy collapses and the US becomes a torture state.

Where's that game, Justice O'Connor?
posted by felix betachat at 2:52 PM on March 21, 2009 [19 favorites]


Are they trying to argue that robots and computers are entitled to civil rights?

damn right, meatbag.

Ditto


Oh, is it time for the uprising? Sweet.
posted by The Pusher Robot at 3:06 PM on March 21, 2009


I was a huge, huge O'Connor fanboy. Then Bush v. Gore ruined much of my respect for her. It was a betrayal of trust on an epic scale, as far as I'm concerned.

I still want to like her, and think she's amazing, but felix betachat's comment above is all too poignant for me.
posted by darkstar at 3:18 PM on March 21, 2009


She was on the right side of history in Gonzales v. Raich, as well. Sad that it was in the dissenting minority opinion.
posted by mullingitover at 4:13 PM on March 21, 2009 [1 favorite]




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