In Part I this week, choose a Federal Supreme Court case that originated in illinois that
involves civil rights or civil liberties that was heard by the United States Supreme Court,
and a decision was rendered. If illinois does not have a case that was decided by the United
States Supreme Court, choose a civil rights case from another state for which the United
States Supreme Court issued a decision.
Here is a brief description of civil rights and civil liberties: Civil rights refers to equal social
opportunities under the law. It gives you these freedoms, such as the right to vote, the
right to public education, or a fair trial, among other things, regardless of your wealth or
race. Civil liberties mean freedom of religion, equal treatment and due process under the
law, and the right to privacy.
You should be able to go online and look up your state and famous cases decided by the
Supreme Court. For example, Brown v Board of Education (1951) started in Topeka,
Kansas, and ended up in the Supreme Court of the United States. Another example would
be Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v Steve Sisolak, Governor of Nevada (2020), which
started in Nevada and ended up in the United States Supreme Court. A good source of
information about cases decided by the United States Supreme Court is
www.scotusblog.com, www.justia.com, or www.oyez.org.
Some other examples of cases include Lau v Nichols, Tinker v DesMoines Independent
Community School District, Terry v Ohio, Regents of California v Bakke, Schenck v United States,
Plessy v Ferguson, Shelley v Kraemer, Texas v Johnson, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v Texas, Korematsu v
United States, Obergefell v Hodges, Laird v Tatum and Loving v Virginia.
Other sources can be researched online using search terms for “civil rights cases decided
by the U.S. Supreme Court.” Be sure to use a case actually decided by the United States
Supreme Court, and not a case decided by your state’s supreme court or a different court.
A case that is still pending before the United States Supreme Court should not be used.
Summary of the Case
In one or two paragraphs, provide a general overview of the case that serves as a snapshot
of what the case is about and how it ended up in your state high court. A summary is using
your words to write a brief history of the case. Do not give your opinion or your
interpretation but stick to the facts only.
CaseOutline
Your court case outline should include:
Title: Name of the case
Facts of the case: Provide key facts involving the case.
History of the case:What legal action was taken based onwhat your state laws say about
this case?
Legal questions:What were the legal issues the court had to decide?
Decision or holdings: Did the court decide for the plaintiff or the defendant? Explain the
reason behind the decision?
Verdict and opinion (judgment):What were the concurring and dissenting opinions? How
many judges decided for the defendant and howmany justices decided against the
defendant?What was the final verdict from the judge or the jury, if it was a jury trial?
Conclusion:
What was the resulting impact of the ruling? How did the citizens of your state benefit
from it?Was this a good decision?
Requirement
The length of your outline will vary. Usually an outline is anywhere from 1-3 pages long.
Make sure to write full sentences to explain your case. It is a concise list to be used as a
reference for you during the presentation.
Using the outline, youwill be describing the court case in your presentation and the
scenario around the court case. The use ofWikipedia as a primary source of information is
to be avoided – it is not a reliable source of information.
Search for an example of a case outline in the Internet.Without going intomuch detail at
this state, each of the items listed above has a subject sentence with 3-6 bullet points that
can help you expand on the topic.
● 1-inchmargins
● Double spaced
● 12-point Times NewRoman font
● Title page
● References page (minimum of 2 scholarly sources)
