The Supreme Court will hold Off-Site Court in Monroe and Defiance counties in 2025.

The Supreme Court will hold Off-Site Court in Monroe and Defiance counties in 2025.

The Supreme Court of Ohio has scheduled its plans to take oral arguments on the road in 2025. The Supreme Court’s traveling civic education program – geared to high school students and known as the Off-Site Court Program – will be held on April 23, 2025, and Oct. 8, 2025.

The April session of Off-Site Court will be in Monroe County. The location of the October program is Defiance County. The visits will be the Court’s first time holding Off-Site Court in both counties. Monroe will be the 75th of Ohio’s 88 counties to host the Court for the program, and Defiance will be the 76th.

Cases before the Supreme Court are typically heard at the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center in Columbus. For Off-Site Court, though, the justices relocate for a day so high school students can attend oral arguments in person in a county close to home. The program is designed to reach more Ohio students to educate them about the state’s judicial system.

Students Learn About Courts and Cases To Prepare for Visit
For the hundreds of students who participate in Off-Site Court, the educational opportunity includes even more than attending oral arguments in person. Students and their teachers receive background materials from the Court to study beforehand. Included in the materials are articles written by Court staff about each case that will be argued, explaining the facts and the legal arguments from the different sides. Local attorneys are recruited to help, partnering with teachers and talking with students during in-class visits before the event to explain the Ohio judicial system and review the cases.

Before Court begins on the day of the visit, the justices meet with students to describe their role at the state’s court of last resort and within the legal system, and to answer student questions. After students hear arguments before the Court, their group meets with the attorneys who argued the case. It’s an opportunity to discuss the arguments they just witnessed and to share their thoughts and questions. In past exchanges, students asked about the differences between prosecutors, defense lawyers, and appellate attorneys. They also learned about the hours of research, writing, and practicing arguments that go into preparing to present a case before trial and appellate courts. Last year, student visits with a local state legislator were added to the program.

Educational Program Has Endured for More Than 30 Years
Off-Site Court was established in 1987 by Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer. Since then, more than 43,900 Ohioans – 34,929 of them students – have observed the proceedings of the Supreme Court in their home counties and interacted with justices, attorneys, and Court staff.