Law360 (July 28, 2026, 4:41 PM EDT) -- Court is wherever and whenever a judge says it is, counsel for a Detroit judge told a Sixth Circuit panel Tuesday, arguing that subjecting a student to a mock arrest and trial because she fell asleep during a field trip was within his jurisdiction.

"The expectations of the students were to come on the field trip and see the defendant as a judge," Todd Russell Perkins of Perkins Law Group told the panel.

A 15-year-old student filed a lawsuit against Judge Kenneth King and two court officers after she was on a field trip to Judge King's Detroit Circuit courtroom and fell asleep during the judge's lecture. She claims Judge King handcuffed her, forced her to wear jail attire and subjected her to a mock trial that was allegedly livestreamed on the court's YouTube channel.

Judge King claimed the mock trial was his version of the popular reality show "Scared Straight."

A Detroit federal judge ruled that Judge King did not have immunity and Judge King challenged that decision in the federal appellate court.

Judge King, Perkins said, would have been within his jurisdiction to subject the sleeping student to a mock arrest and trial even if he were speaking to students outside the courtroom. As long as he announces himself as a judge, he has immunity, Perkins said.

Perkins acknowledged there was no court reporter present during the mock hearing so the incident was not recorded as an official court proceeding.

Counsel for the plaintiff, Robert G. Kamenec of Fieger Law, said court was not in session when the student dozed off. The plaintiff, Kamenec told the panel, did not create a disturbance during the court proceedings that the students observed or during the judge's lecture and she was not in the courtroom as a witness, plaintiff or defendant in a court case.

"Judges resolve cases and controversy and there was no case involving the plaintiff," Kamenec told the panel. "Judge King's acts toward the plaintiff do not reflect normal activities of a judge."

Even if the plaintiff were yelling or vandalizing the courtroom, Kamenec said, Judge King would not have contempt power.

"He could call the bailiff to try and restrain her and that is about it," Karmenec told the panel. "Court either has to be in session or there has to be a court proceeding and none of that was going on there."

Karmenec told the panel that the defendant did not argue the facts of the case as presented by the plaintiff, but is trying to justify those actions by saying he is entitled to judicial immunity.

"There is no discussion of the factional allegations of the plaintiff's First Amendment complaints in the defendant's brief," Karmenec said. "The fact allegations are ignored, which gives you a good idea about what is really going on."

Perkins said his client is entitled to immunity even though the field trip was not an official court proceeding because he identified himself as a judge to the students. He said that although Judge King's lecture was not part of official court proceedings, there was "nothing to suggest that court was not in session" even though Judge King invited a student to come and sit on the bench and wear his robe.

Judge King, Kamenec told the panel, is not entitled to judicial immunity because the plaintiff was not in the courtroom because of any connection to the judicial system.

"I don't think you can look at this judge's acts and say he was trying to preserve the judicial system," Kamenec said.

U.S. Circuit Judges Ronald Lee Gilman, Richard Allen Griffin and Chad A. Readler sat on the panel for the Sixth Circuit.

The plaintiff is represented by Robert G. Kamenec and James J. Harrington IV of Fieger Law.

Judge Kenneth King is represented by Todd Russell Perkins of Perkins Law Group PLLC.

The case is ELG et al. v. Kenneth King et al., case number 25-1614, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District.

--Editing by Stephen Berg.

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