Podcast: Interview with Olivia Foster, Creator of TeenJury.com

March 1st, 2011

Abbie (on the left) and Olivia (on the right) Foster, creators of TeenJury.com. (Photograph courtesy of Masslive.com)

Olivia Foster, is a 14-year-old Freshman at Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts, and is the creator of TeenJury.com. TeenJury.com is a web site managed by teenagers dedicated to teaching other teens about the Supreme Court and our Constitution.The site provides an anatomy of a Supreme Case, biographies of the Supreme Court Justices, discussions of upcoming cases, recaps of recent cases, and news stories.

Last fall, Olivia asked Justice Breyer to autograph a copy of his book, Making Our Democracy work. Justice Breyer  invited her to attend oral arguments, and wrote in her book, “To Olivia, hope to see you in November.” In November, Olivia attended arguments at the Supreme Court for Schwarzenneger v. EMA and Sossamon v. Texas as personal guests of Justice Breyer. This visit to the Court inspired Olivia to create TeenJury.com.

In this podcast, I chat with Olivia about her site, how she created it, her experiences at the Supreme Court, and what she thinks more broadly about the state of civic education in America. Olivia has a bright future ahead of her, and no surprise, wants to attend law school. For more background, check out this profile on MassLive.com.
[podcast]http://harlaninstitute.org/files/2011/03/teenjury.mp3[/podcast]
Cross-posted at the Harlan Institute Blog.