Paul Scott comment: Who knew Iowa Supreme Court justices were so funny?"

(Comment by decorahnews.com's Paul Scott)

OK--I understand that watching a session of the Iowa Supreme Court might not be most people's definition of the word "fun."  But the justices made for an engaging evening Wednesday at Decorah High School.

Constantly inquisitive and frequently funny, the justices did a good job of showing the public what the court system is all about.

Of course, it helped that the two cases they heard arguments about involved a public intoxication arrest of someone who was standing on their front steps and another case involving a woman who made Facebook postings about a trial she was serving as a juror for.

That case included a discussion of "Is it 'speech' to click on a 'Like' button on Facebook?"  Justice David Wiggins thought Facebook posts were a form of speech, noting "That's the only way I can communicate with my kids."  And Justice Brent Appel asked about the other forms of digital communication, noting they were "Twitter and all kinds of other nouns I don't know the meaning of."

But beyond the statements that drew occasional laughter from the audience were the questions that showed Decorah area residents how our judicial system works.  At the end of the evening, Chief Justice Mark Cady summarized by saying, "It's very important for the work of the court to be seen."