harlaninstitute.org

What It Is

Harlan Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization registered in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to bring a “stylized law school experience” into high school classrooms, helping students understand the U.S. Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court cases, and the judicial system. Its flagship program is the Virtual Supreme Court, associated with Ashbrook, where students research, write, and debate real or hypothetical constitutional issues.

Core Experience

Based on the available site content, the program flow includes researching and writing a brief, scheduling a virtual mentor session to prepare for oral arguments, participating in preliminary rounds, and competing virtually against student teams from across the United States. The winning teams may ultimately travel to Washington, D.C. to take part in a championship round before federal judges. The website also provides Lesson Plans organized by Supreme Court term, covering cases such as Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, Moody v. NetChoice, Bruen, and Carpenter. These materials are suitable for teachers to integrate directly into U.S. government, civics, or history classes.

Pricing and Organizational Background

In terms of pricing, the main site text clearly states its long-term goal of teaching a streamlined law school curriculum in high schools “at no cost,” and the championship teams may also receive a free trip to Washington, D.C. However, it does not disclose registration fees, competition fees, or any other possible costs. The organization has a good level of transparency, publicly providing its IRS Form 990-N, tax-exempt documents, and registration information. Its team includes people with backgrounds in law, education, and civic education, and its partners include Ashbrook, Bill of Rights Institute, Center for Civic Education, iCivics, and others.

Pros and Cons

Its main strength is the hands-on nature of the program. Students do not merely read materials; they practice legal research, brief writing, oral presentation, and constitutional argumentation. Its nonprofit status and public financial filings also improve credibility. The main limitation is that the content is highly U.S.-focused, so it has limited direct compatibility with Chinese or international curricula. The site text also does not clearly explain certificates, course duration, full registration requirements, scoring rules, or the mechanism for ongoing support.

Who It’s For and Access from China

It is best suited for U.S. high school civics, AP Government, history, or mock trial clubs, and also for students who want to practice legal argumentation in English. For Chinese students, it is more useful as an enrichment resource for U.S. constitutionalism and legal English than as a general law course. The reviewed content does not provide information on access from mainland China, so actual testing would be required.