Students will learn about the principles that undergird the Magna Carta and how they have influenced important legal documents. More specifically, students will evaluate the Magna Carta's impact on the U.S. Constitution.

This lesson is based on the Annenberg Classroom video âSearch and Seizure: Mapp v. Ohio,â which explores the landmark Supreme Court decision that makes state governments also responsible for protecting our Fourth Amendment right. With the exclusionary rule, this right becomes real for all of us.

The complex relationship between the presidency and public opinion is examined by leading historians, political scientists and public figures who also offer insight into the office and its occupants from George Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

This discussion guide is for use with the video âThe Nature of Judicial Independence,â which features remarks and conversation with Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Hon. Stephanos Bibas, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and David F. Levi, former dean of Duke University School of Law, on October 26, 2019, at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Using the Annenberg Classroom video âOne Person, One Vote,â this lesson explores the questions âDoes the Constitution require that every person's vote count the same as another person's vote? Why would that be important?â Students will use their knowledge of the U.S. Supreme Court cases Baker v. Carr and Reynolds v. Sims to answer these questions.

The process of how a bill becomes a federal law is more than a series of linked steps. It is the fundamental way people in a democracy get involved and work through their elected officials to meet needs and solve problems for the benefit of themselves and other Americans. Through this lesson, students will learn about the dynamic interconnections of people, principles, and process that are involved in making federal laws.
The estimated time for this lesson plan is four class periods.

This documentary tells the story of a tiny school in Yosemite National Park that tries to solve its funding problem by getting a bill passed in Congress and, in the process, learns many lessons about how federal laws are made.

Learn how Black women continue to lead the fight for suffrage rights, 100 years after the passage of the 19th Amendment and 55 years after the Voting Rights Act, in this digital video from The Vote | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Use this video when studying the women’s suffrage movement to explore the leadership role of African American women in the long struggle for voting rights and examine historic and contemporary efforts to suppress the African American vote.

Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Stephen G. Breyer answer questions from students about why we need a written Constitution and what it says about the Supreme Court and its rulings.
Closed captions available in multiple languages, including Spanish.

This lesson is based on the two-part Annenberg Classroom video âThe Story of the Bill of Rights,â which explores one of the toughest political fights in American history and the outcome that became a symbol of liberty and freedom in America – the Bill of Rights.

This lesson is based on the Annenberg Classroom video âA Conversation on the Constitution: Brown v. Board of Educationâ in which Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer participate in a Q&A session with a group of high school students. The conversation revolves around the issues and arguments in Brown v. Board of Education. Through the lesson, students gain insight into decision-making at the Supreme Court, learn about the people behind the case, construct a persuasive argument, and evaluate the significance of Brown v. Board of Education.

Students will learn how the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution was shaped by historical events and how it reflected the fundamental values and principles of a newly independent nation.

Four short videos explain the significance of presidential signing statements: Separation of Powers, Non-Enforcement, the Unitary Theory and the President's Intent. Hosted by Gwen Ifill, senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

This lesson is based on an Annenberg Classroom video Habeas Corpus: The Guantanamo Cases that explores the four Supreme Court cases known as the Guantanamo cases. These cases are examples of how the Court, the president and even Congress fought to balance national security and civil liberties during the war on terror, a war that continues to this day. At the hear of each case was the constitutional right of habeas corpus, the right to have one's detention or imprisonment reviewed in court.
This lesson is aligned with the National Standards for Civics and Government and Common Core Standards. The estimated time of this lesson is two 50-minute classes.

This documentary explores the landmark Supreme Court decision Miranda v. Arizona that said criminal suspects, at the time of their arrest but before any interrogation, must be told of their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and Sixth Amendment right to an attorney. The decision led to the familiar Miranda warning that begins âYou have the right to remain silent … â

In these five videos, judges explain separation of powers and the roles of the three branches of government as well as landmark cases related to separation of powers. Judges also review the system of checks and balances, and why it's important to respect the nation's rule of law and the jurisdiction of the courts.

In 1957, Dollree Mapp stood up to police who tried to enter her home without a search warrant. Her act of defiance led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling in Mapp v. Ohio that limited police powers. This documentary explores the Fourth Amendment case in which the Court ruled that evidence illegally obtained by police is not admissible in state courts. The 1961 case redefined the rights of the accused.

This film examines the history of guns and gun ownership in our society from the Revolutionary War to modern times and the complicated debate over what the founders intended when they wrote the Second Amendment. Does it protect a right of individuals to keep and bear arms? Or is it a right that can be exercised only through militia organizations like the National Guard?

Students will visually map portrayals of their communities in the news media. The result will be a graphic organizer of unique perspectives and story ideas. Click on the Activities Tab to complete the lesson.

This tool allows students to explore the rights the Sixth Amendment grants to defendants in criminal trials by linking the text's most debated clauses to expert knowledge on their various interpretations.