Introduction
In small groups students examine landmark Supreme Court cases and make a decision based on their interpretation of the law.
Introduction
Imagine you are a Supreme Court justice and you are faced with making a decision about an extremely controversial case. How do you accomplish such a task?
Supreme Court justices look over a variety of different types of information to come to a decision. But in order to do this, they must be familiar with the law that is being disputed and how it can be interpreted.
The U.S. Constitution is a prime example of intrepretable law. It was designed to be flexible in its interpretation and application to accommodate the needs of a growing nation.
As a newly appointed Supreme Court justice it is your job to analyze documents from historical landmark cases and come to your own conclusion based on your interpretation of the law in question.
Task
Task
Your task is to examine a landmark Supreme Court case and, based on your interpretation of the law in question, make a decision that will be presented to the class.
Process
Process
Researching Your Topic
With your partner(s) you will choose a Supreme Court case from the list below to analyze. Acting as a Supreme Court justice it is your job to research both sides of the issue and come to a conclusion. You may or may not agree with your partner(s). First, each group will complete a Case Brief, using the attached Case Study Format document, for your selected case. Then, you will prepare a presentation to report your recommendation to the class.
Topics: The following is a list of topics with links to case documents. Some links may be broken, so feel free to use other sites. Be sure to examine the background of the case, the majority opinion (the winning opinion), and the dissenting opinion (losing opinion). No two groups can research the same case, so you must get your case approved by the teacher to ensure that no more than one group is researching each case.
Landmark Cases - All cases should start here
Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Case Brief
Use the attached " Case Study Format Sheet " to create a Case Brief to include in your presentation. Remember to share all documents with each person in the group , so that work can be done simultaneously. This is a group effort and you must work together.
Recommendation
Once you have prepared the Case Study/Brief using the format attached to this assignment, it is time to create a recommendation. This information will be used in the presentation.Your recommendation must include:
- the law in question
- You will need to include your interpretation of the law and how it applies to your case.
- your opinion
- Do you agree or disagree with the majority opinion? Why do you think this?
- evidence/statements to support your opinion
- If you decide to agree with the majority opinion you may cite that document to support your argument. If you disagree with the majority opinion you may cite the dissenting opinion to support your argument.
Persuasive Arguments - This is a good guide to use when structuring your recommendation.
Presentation
After you draft your recommendation you will need to prepare a presentation. This can be done in a slide show format or a series of documents. Either way, each required element must have its own title and page/slide.
In your presentation you must:
- Title Page (Slide) : Case name and Student Names
- Case Brief : Insert a shareable link ( see instructions on case format sheet) to your finished case study/brief
- The Law in Question: Include your interpretation of the law and how it applies to your case
- The Majority Opinion (winning) :
- this is your group's majority opinion, not necessarily the court's. Whichever side has two or more advocates is the majority opinion for your group.
- Use the Recommendation information that you prepared in the previous step for this slide/ page
- If there is one, give the dissenting opinion (losing) :
- briefly communicate some supporting evidence/statements and reasoning for dissent
- Insert a relevant picture on each slide/ page
Evaluation
Your project will be scored based on the elements in the following categories :
1. Case Brief
2. Recommendation
3. Presentation
Please see the attached rubric for detailed scoring information.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Reflection
Reflect on your experience during this lesson. What did you learn? What do you think about interpreting laws? Was it what you expected? Is there anything you think could be improved to make this a better experience?
There will be a place in Google Classroom for you to post this reflection.
If you'd like to learn more about the Supreme Court and its cases, please visit the Supreme Court website.
Credits
This webquest was created on the Create Webquest Site.
Teacher Page
Created for Ms. Barnes 11th and 12th grade Law Studies Class