Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy posed a difficult question to a panel of 15 high school students at Farrington High School yesterday: As an American, do you have a moral obligation to promote freedom in the world?

"I don't think we have a right to tell people how to run their country," said Jennefer Schwall, a Farrington junior.

Schwall moved to Hawai'i four months ago after her family was displaced from Jefferson Parish in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She told Justice Kennedy during the discussion that the United States should not concern itself with other countries if it cannot take care of its own people.

Schwall was one of 15 students who participated in a "Dialogue on Freedom" with Kennedy as a part of the justice's weeklong visit to Hawai'i for the University of Hawai'i Richardson School of Law's Jurists-in-Residence program. Students from Kahuku High School also attended yesterday's event and were included on the panel as well as in the audience of about 200.

Kennedy, nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, said he wanted to meet with the students because they are the future generation of citizens and leaders.

"In just a few years these people will vote. In a few more years they will be the trustees of our freedom, of our democracy — they must be knowledgeable about the meaning of freedom," said Kennedy, 69.

During the discussion, Kennedy posed a hypothetical question to students that had parallels to the current situation in Iraq: Should the U.S. military be used to intervene in a totalitarian country whose government is harming its own people?

Travis Hancock, a senior at Kahuku High School, said he was torn on the issue. He said he agrees that Americans should show to the world the virtues of freedom, but he said that a line should be drawn.

"I don't think there is moral value to imposing our type of government on them," Hancock said. "Personally I believe humans have certain natural rights," but our type of government should not be forced on people, he said.

While Kennedy said there was no right answer, he did tell them that "there are millions of people in the world who are unempowered, wondering if democracy is the way and we must teach them." But he said many in the world are not convinced democracy is the best form of government.

"Our first security is in the world of ideas," Kennedy said. "And if other people acknowledge that our ideas are benign and tolerant, decent, respectful, then our freedom and our own security is best secured."

Kennedy later asked the group what book would they give to a person living under a totalitarian government to educate them about democracy and American society.

Hancock said "1984" by George Orwell. Kennedy agreed, calling the book a "horrifying example of what a totalitarian state does to its people."

Maggie Comstock, a Punahou School senior, was in the audience and said listening to the Supreme Court justice reinforced her aspirations to study constitutional law.

"I got insight into the ideological battles that the United States faces," said Comstock, who is also working on a research project about Justice Kennedy.

In the end, Kennedy told students that as citizens they need to reach out to the rest of the world to help others understand our values.

"We're a decent people," he said.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.