[Greeneville, TN] – The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee will be hosting multiple events across multiple counties within the Greeneville Division of the Eastern District during the week of September 15, 2025, to celebrate Constitution Day. The week’s events will be headlined by a Naturalization Ceremony being presided over by United States District Judge Clifton L. Corker at Tusculum University on Wednesday, September 17, 2025. Judge Corker will be naturalizing 100 new citizens during the ceremony, which will be attended by representatives from the offices of United States Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty and United States Representative Diana Harshbarger as well as multiple local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
In addition to the Naturalization Ceremony, Civics presentations celebrating the important role our Constitution plays in our system of government will be made by members of the Court’s Civics Education Committee along with leaders from the Institute of American Civics (“IAC”) housed in the University of Tennessee’s Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs, including its Executive Director Josh Dunn, and student from East Tennessee State University’s Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (“TISL”). In addition to learning about the Constitution through these presentations, students will receive their own pocket-sized copy of the Constitution which they will use to play a game in which they answer questions about the Constitution designed to help them understand the Constitution’s application to real world situations. The pocket Constitutions are provided through the generous support of the IAC. Additionally, Greene County Heritage Trust is generously supplying the pocket Constitutions to each middle school in Greene County and graciously agreed to provide them in conjunction with the program in Greene County.
Presentations will be made to the 8th grade classes at the following schools: South Greene Middle School in Greene County, Ridgeview Elementary School in Washington County, Parrottsville Elementary School in Cocke County, West View Middle and Lincoln Heights Middle Schools in Hamblen County, Sullivan Central Middle School in Sullivan County, Johnson County Middle School in Johnson County, Bulls Gap Middle School in Hawkins County, Happy Valley Middle School in Carter County, and Hancock County Middle/High School in Hancock County. The Civics Education Committee is also providing speaker support to Greeneville High School for the school’s Constitution Day program.
Additionally, all elementary, middle, and high school students in the above-listed counties along with Unicoi County are eligible to enter the Court’s art competition celebrating Constitution Day. This year’s theme is The Power of Place, provided to us by the America 250 Committee of the Greene County Heritage Trust. Members of the committee will serve as the judges for this year’s competition. Each school within these counties may submit up to three entries. Entries must be submitted by the schools. No individual student entries can be accepted. A winner will be chosen for the elementary school level, middle school level, and high school level. Winners will receive a cash prize and will have their artwork displayed at the federal courthouse in Greeneville. Principals and teachers will find information about the art competition at: https://connections.tned.uscourts.gov/docs/2025_art.pdf
All art must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 17, 2025.
