Current Programs
The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project
The Marshall-Brennan Project sends trained law students into high school classrooms to teach the Constitution using Supreme Court cases about education and the rights of students. The project's goal is to teach students their rights and how to use their knowledge of cases and the Constitution to become effective democratic citizens. In 2007, CEP launched a new Marshall-Brennan Project at Northeastern University School of Law that sent 17 law student into three Boston high schools.
Founded in 1999 by Prof. Jamin Raskin at American University’s Washington College of Law, the project is named in honor of former United States Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan, Jr. The project has developed two curricula: We the Students, which focuses on public education and the rights of students; and Youth Justice in America, which explores the intersection of constitutional principles and the juvenile justice system.
Next year, the M-B Project at Northeastern will run from September to mid-February and will culminate with a moot court competition at the historic John Adams Courthouse. The winners of the competition will then travel to Washington, D.C. to compete in the National Marshall-Brennan Moot Court Competition. We plan to send 24 law students into six high schools in the greater Boston area to teach the We the Students curriculum.