The Fairfax County Circuit Court is now offering an online education hub for students and other Fairfax County residents interested in the local court system and its history to explore.
Officially launched last Wednesday (June 17), the Judicial Learning Center of Fairfax County is the first resource of its kind provided by any state trial court in the U.S., according to Fairfax Clerk of Court Chris Falcon.
“It supports the Court Tour Program and highlights court cases from Fairfax County that have assisted in charting a course toward a more just society,” Falcon said in a press release. “Fairfax County residents can now engage with the Judiciary and the county’s history in a new way right at home.”
The virtual learning center was developed by the circuit court in partnership with the Fairfax Bar Association, Fairfax County Public Schools, George Mason University and the Center for Mason Legacies, a research center run by GMU librarians and faculty that focuses on the university’s namesake and local history.
According to the release, the concept for the Judicial Learning Center emerged from exhibits currently available at the Supreme Court of Virginia in Richmond and a courthouse tour program that the Fairfax Bar Association has long offered to middle school students:
Inspired by exhibits at the Supreme Court of Virginia, a committee formed in 2024 to develop content that would complement the long-running Fairfax Bar Association’s Court Tour program for middle school students. Established in 1976, the Court Tour program includes a mock trial, meetings with attorneys and judges, and observing an actual trial. The JLC reinforces and introduces key civics concepts, depending on when students access the material in relation to their classroom instruction, and explores two significant civil rights cases that took place in Fairfax County.
Made up of judges, public servants, lawyers, researchers and other professionals from the aforementioned organizations, the committee spent two years working with an exhibit design firm on the content for the center.
At its launch, the Judicial Learning Center website features two exhibits. One delves into the U.S. judicial system, including the different court levels, people who work in the court system and foundational documents, while another reviews the Carpenter and Little Hunting Park cases, which both started in the Fairfax Circuit Court.
The Carpenter case in 1935 dealt with defendants’ right to be tried by a jury of their peers, and the Little Hunting Park case stemmed from a Black resident, Dr. Theodore Freeman, being denied membership to the swimming pool club where he was renting a house in 1965. The latter case resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that racial discrimination in connection to owning and using property is illegal, as is punishing someone for challenging discrimination.
The virtual center also provides access to archival work by the circuit court’s Historic Records Center interns.
According to the circuit court, the learning center was “created to promote public understanding and appreciation of the judicial branch—particularly the special role of the Circuit Court.”
The center is expected to expand in the future with in-person exhibits at the Fairfax County Courthouse that will be open to both students and the general public.
The Judicial Learning Center is among a number of initiatives that the Fairfax Circuit Court has undertaken to expand access since Falcon was elected in 2023. Other efforts to make the court more accessible have included the 2024 launch of a free online system with basic civil and criminal case information and the addition of a satellite site for some court services.
