Constitution Day 2026: A Look Back

On and around Sept. 17, in the nation’s 250th anniversary year, legal professionals across Washington went back to school. More than 350 volunteers signed up to connect with and visit a classroom or speak at an assembly, from kindergarten through high school, in big cities and small towns. Stories came in from Spokane to Camano Island and Bremerton to Bellevue, along with a virtual visit from Paris. They came as lawyers, judges, and paralegals, and they brought something no lesson plan can: a real person who works in the legal system, ready to answer questions. Thanks to their efforts, more than 1,500 students got a close-up look at how the rule of law works in their own lives.

From the Classroom

Vashon Island: “Pass the Marker”

At McMurray Middle School, Washington Supreme Court Justice Colleen Melody and WSBA Executive Director Terra Nevitt taught eighth graders a game in which the rules kept changing mid-play: first pass the marker, then jump, then make bird noises. The students saw the point quickly. “You just kinda made up rules,” one said. That opened the conversation about why people agree to follow rules, and why the rule of law means those rules apply to everyone, including those in power.

West Seattle: Starting Close to Home

Volunteer Paul Firuz didn’t have to look far for a school. He visited eight classrooms at his own kids’ elementary, Fairmount Park, from first grade through fifth. One first grade class wondered whether dinosaurs were alive when the Constitution was written. The fifth graders took on separation of powers. At curriculum night the next week, parents told him their kids were excited about the Constitution.

Bellevue: A Hypothetical with Real Stakes

At Bellevue High School, volunteer Joyce Shui visited four classrooms, walking students through the Constitution’s timeline and a few core principles: due process, equal access, and appellate review. Then she handed them a hypothetical built on a real Washington civil protection order law and asked them to work through who gets to testify and who gets an interpreter. Students shared sharp analyses and posed great questions.

Read the full story, “Back to School,” in the October 2026 issue of Washington State Bar News.

In the News 

Constitution Day made headlines across Washington. Chief Justice Debra Stephens and Washington State Bar Association President Francis Adewale made the case for civic learning, then spoke at three Spokane school assemblies for elementary and middle school students.