Omaha Bryan students press Nebraska Supreme Court justice for answers

Yahoo

15-05-2025

From Left to right, students Kameron Lloyd, Gabriela Moran-Zinzun, Andrea Chaparro and teacher Nick Clawson at Bryan High School. The teens are part of the MLK Living the Dream Team, which followed up an April meeting with the seven-member Nebraska Supreme Court, on the Bears' home turf, with a letter seeking to settle unease they felt. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)
OMAHA — The group of Bryan High Bears left the auditorium feeling honored. Some had a newfound enthusiasm for the art of legal sparring, as their high school had just hosted a rare event featuring the highest judges in the state: the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Still, something hadn't sat well with members of the school's MLK Living the Dream Team club, which was part of the larger student group of about 60 that participated in the event.
Team members, noting they come from backgrounds disproportionately hurt by some Trump administration policies, said they felt dismissed at times by the justices and cited a response Justice William Cassel gave to a student's question regarding increased conflict between the president and the courts.
The question: Do you think we are in a constitutional crisis?
'Your expression seemed amused as if it were a silly question,' the MLK dream team subsequently wrote in a letter to Cassel that they said reflected a larger frustration beyond him. 'To be fair, you did technically answer the question when you said, 'We're not even close,' but we would like for you to explain how you came to that conclusion.'
While team members topped off their recent letter with appreciation for the 'once in a lifetime experience' the Court's April visit offered, they spent much of the two-page missive diving into recent deportations and executive orders they said raise 'serious concerns about the safety and future of millions of first-generation kids from our community and beyond.'
Cassel promptly wrote back. In a three-paragraph reply, he encouraged the students to advocate for what they believe is right, but declined to 'engage in a public debate regarding current affairs.'
A high court justice since 2012 and appointed by a Republican governor, Cassel wrote that it was not inconceivable that a case related to issues identified by the students could come before him and that it would be inappropriate to 'form or express views' on the events they discussed.
Said Cassel: 'I encourage you, as students, to continue to inform yourselves as these issues unfold, to seek out the lessons of history, to consider carefully the views expressed on all sides of controversial issues, to reach your own informed opinions and to advocate for what you believe is just and right.'
The exchange may be uncommon in the nine or so years that the state Supreme Court, on a few occasions each year, has taken its official business on the road. As they did at Bryan in April, the justices hear oral arguments at a select few high schools and at least one university annually and afterward answer questions from students.
The idea, said State Court Administrator Corey Steel, is to showcase the court system and judicial branch — and from what he has witnessed, most students who follow up have done so with a thank-you note.
But these are different times, as noted by the Bryan MLK dream team members. The group's letter said that days after the Nebraska justices visited their school, the Trump administration 'blatantly disregarded a clearcut 9-0 Supreme Court ruling pertaining to the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.'
'This has never happened before in the history of the United States,' wrote the team, whose half-dozen members meet weekly to talk about social justice issues and prepare for an annual speech and essay contest held on the January holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Students said they enjoyed hearing the state justices during the April traveling court session. They were thankful for their insight but had hoped their own voices would be 'heard and validated' by their state's top legal minds. They asked Cassel to please elaborate on his stance.
The justices did not elaborate, either, when the Examiner sought a response to the letter. Judges in general are cautious with public comments, given judicial codes of conduct that discourage statements that could affect the outcome or impair the fairness of an impending case or court matter.
In the end, the Supreme Court visit appears to have succeeded in achieving an intended goal of the traveling court events, as stated by Steel: 'raise interest in the process and spark some students to look at getting involved in the legal field in Nebraska.'
Nebraska Supremes take show on road, hold court at Omaha high school
He points out that the number of lawyers has been declining in rural parts of Nebraska, where the Supreme Court also tries to meet once a year to interact with high school students and allow them front-row seats to court activities.
At Bryan, which is part of the more urban Omaha Public Schools district, junior Gabriela Moran-Zinzun noted the lack of racial and ethnic diversity she saw on the state's seven-member Supreme Court — and said she plans to pursue a law degree.
Andrea Chaparro, also 16 and of Hispanic heritage, said she is pulled to journalism and political science. Both asked questions of the justices during a student-focused Q-and-A session that followed arguments on an official case the students watched play out in their school auditorium.
They and classmate Kameron Lloyd, all members of the MLK club, were part of that larger Bryan audience that also included history and government classes. The club members said they decided to write the letter after mulling some emotions stirred by the Court's visit.
Lloyd, 17, reflected on a national day of protest recently when many immigrants and their allies, in reaction to federal immigration policies, did not report to work or school. He said some schoolmates doubted the protest would have any impact and said he sensed a fear to speak out.
'I'm hoping this letter will inspire them to do otherwise,' Lloyd said. 'Their voices do have power.'
Around the same time, the Trump administration moved to cancel visas for a wave of foreign-born students studying in the U.S., including three at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Many of the visas have since been restored, including those at UNL, but threat remains as the government has started work on a new system for review and termination.
Lloyd said that while the May 2 MLK letter was built on one justice's response to one question, the dream team's concerns are bigger than the letter, their club or the high court.
The MLK team members wrote from a perspective of a high school that is predominately Latino. They spoke of the right to 'due process' and trauma many have witnessed in their community.
'While you might not have a direct personal connection to these realities, we would still urge you to make the attempt to empathize with immigrant communities who are living in a state of fear, due in large part to what we view to be an obvious series of constitutional crises,' their letter said.
Chaparro said pressure and fear have kept many older generations of immigrants quiet, and that motivates her to ask more questions, seek information and respectfully question authority.
'It starts to spark something that we need to speak out,' she said, 'and that it's not something we should be afraid of.'
Said Moran-Zinzun: 'There's always been kind of like a dark cloud around us, the idea that we in our community can't really trust the government or law enforcement. That's why it's so important for us as the youth to be able to know what's going on … to create a connection between us and the government.'
The club's letter cited recent deportations of foreign-born people from the U.S. and Trump executive orders, including one designed to alter birthright citizenship. It said such actions had many questioning the legality of certain administration edicts and actions.
The students wrote that Garcia, for example, was in the country with U.S. permission, given temporary protected status after a judge determined he'd face danger returning to El Salvador. They said like anyone on U.S. soil, he should have had the right to a fair and speedy trial.
It starts to spark something that we need to speak out — and that it's not something we should be afraid of.
– Andrea Chaparro, Bryan High student
The Trump administration has said its actions are justified by labeling Garcia a foreign terrorist, security threat and member of the MS-13 gang. The students said the case against the father of three children married to an American citizen and with no criminal conviction in the U.S. was built largely upon 'a hoodie and a Chicago Bulls hat.'
'Deporting Abrego Garcia sets a dangerous precedent that would potentially make any Latino person wearing a Bulls hat into a target for being profiled and deported at any time,' the letter said.
During the Nebraska Supreme Court's April visit to Bryan, Cassel stepped up to offer thoughts when a student asked the entire court whether the nation was in a constitutional crisis.
Cassel suggested at the time that students google President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 'court-packing plan,' and said: 'We aren't even close.'
During the event, other students walked up to a microphone and queried the Court on various matters, including on whether the justices feared for their jobs, given that the president called for the removal of a judge who had ruled against his deportation plans.
Chief Justice Jeffrey Funke at that point delved into the differences between Nebraska's method of appointing and removing judges versus that of the federal government. He'd later tell a reporter that road trips such as the one to Bryan help justices reset, and positions them to hear from Nebraskans in the 'every day world.'
MLK club members Moran-Zinzun, Chaparro and Lloyd said in a recent interview that they remain honored their school was selected to host the Supreme Court session. They said they learned and appreciated that justices took time for questions and photos afterward.
'I think the reason we felt comfortable sending the letter is because they made the first move to come and took the initiative to come to our school and to try to build a connection between students and the Supreme Court,' said Moran-Zinzun.
Lloyd said he felt the original question posed to justices remained unanswered. But students were happy Cassel took time to reply to the club's letter.
'Just an overall response made us feel seen, and that writing the letter made a point,' said Chaparro.
Nick Clawson, the Bryan teacher and sponsor of the MLK club, said he was proud of the students, for facing the often 'scary situation' of public speaking at the initial Supreme Court event and for having courage to go a step further by sharing their feelings in the letter.
'This is what civil discourse looks like,' he said, noting the Court's stated purpose to inspire students. 'To truly spark interest sometimes involves tension and even conflict, and that's something that MLK himself often did.'
Of the club, he said: 'They're truly living MLK's dream through this by being a voice for the voiceless.'
Cassell Letter 20250502 BryanHighMLKTeamResponse (2)
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