U.S. Supreme Court Simulation Name_______________________________

History 8

2004

Overview:

You are going to have the opportunity to research and present one of the most famous and controversial court cases in recent history. Your group will pick a case, analyze it, put together a modified legal brief, and then present it to the class who will judge the merits of the case and render an opinion.

Court Cases:

In re Gault (1967) Juvenile Due Process

Gregg v. Georgia (1976) Death Penalty

Runyon v. McCrary (1976) Private School Discrimination

New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985) School Search and Seizure

Tison v. Arizona (1987) Felony Murder Laws

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) School Newspaper Censorship

DeShaney v. Winnebago County (1989) Child Abuse

Allegheny County v. ACLU (1989) Public Religious Displays

Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith (1990) Free Exercise of Religion

Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) Abortion Restrictions

United States v. Virginia (1996) Single Sex Public Schools

Reno v. ACLU (1997) Internet Censorship

Davis v. Monroe County Board of Ed. (1999) School Sexual Harassment

Stenberg v. Carhart (2000) Late-Term Abortion

Boy Scouts v. Dale (2000) Sexual Preference Discrimination

Santa Fe School District v. Doe (2000) School Prayer

Indianapolis v. Edmond (2000) Search—Roadblocks

Ferguson v. City of Charleston (2001) Drug Testing

Board of Education v. Earls (2002) School Drug Testing

Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002) School Vouchers

Newdow v. U.S. Congress (9^th Circuit 2002) Pledge of Allegiance

Silveira v. Lockyer (9^th Circuit 2002) Gun Control

Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) Affirmative Acton

Lawrence v. Texas (2003) Equal Protection

Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health (MA SC 2003) Gay Marriage

Requirements:

1. Name of Case and Date

2. 10 Vocabulary Words

3. Facts of the Case

4. Point(s) of Law

5. Lower Court Decision(s)

6. 2-5 Important Precedents (Circumstances and relevance)

7. Petitioner’s Arguments

8. Respondent’s Arguments

9. Supreme Court’s Ruling and Reasoning (Can be brief because it should duplicate one set of arguments)

SUPREME COURT SIMULATION Name ___________________________

History 8

Name ___________________________

Name ___________________________

Unacceptable Excellent

Use of class time 0---------------------------------------10

Effort, Working as a group

Words and definitions 0---------------------------------------10

Complete and appropriate

Overall quality of written work 0---------------------------------------40

Explanation of the facts of the case/ruling

Points of law, Precedents, Coverage of both sides

Quality of oral presentation 0---------------------------------------40

Posture, Delivery, Confidence, Response to oral questions

TOTAL POINTS = _____ / 100 GRADE= _____ (Weight of 5)