Former Supreme Court Justice’s civics education site is strangely addicting

Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's online civics education initiative may be aimed at middle school students, but we at The Lookout are finding it irresistibly fun and informative.

In one online game, the student gets to be the deciding vote in a Supreme Court case over whether a school is allowed to prevent a student from wearing a band T-shirt in class. Kids can listen to different pairs of judges arguing questions like "Does political speech get more protection than cultural speech?" and "Is it better to allow more speech or less speech in schools?" The justices also discuss the Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969), which ruled that a student could wear an armband in protest of the Vietnam War because the symbolic protest qualified as protected speech.

O'Connor, the Supreme Court's first female justice, will unveil the free online program in a speech tonight to students and faculty at Oklahoma City University School of Law, according to the AP. O'Connor says she was inspired to start the program to improve kids' low level of knowledge about the way the country's political system works.

One study found that "66 percent of students could name all three judges on the popular reality television show American Idol, but only 33 percent could name the three branches of government," according to Impact News.

(O'Connor: AP)