Do your students like running things? The new version of Branches of Power allows them to do something that no one else can: control all three branches of the U.S. government.

In Branches of Power your students will:

Pick leaders for each branch of government
Create a presidential agenda and learn about the executive branch powers
Introduce bills and pass laws out of Congress
Apply judicial review to passed laws

Browder v. Gayle (1956) was a District Court case that legally ended segregation on public buses in Montgomery, Alabama. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case, allowing the District Court's judgment to stand.

Case background and primary source documents concerning the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education. Dealing with the principle of Equal Protection, this lesson asks students to assess the role played by the Court as the protector of individual rights against the tyranny of the majority.

In Brown v. Mississippi (1936), the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that, under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, forced confessions cannot be admitted into evidence. Brown v. Mississippi marked the first time the Supreme Court reversed a state trial court conviction on the basis that the defendants’ confessions were coerced.

Do campaign donations qualify as speech? In Buckley v. Valeo (1976) the United States Supreme Court held that several key provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act were unconstitutional. The decision became known for tying campaign donations and expenditures to Freedom of Speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In this lesson, students will study the Supreme Court case Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2013). They will examine the facts of the case and analyze the arguments made on both sides through primary source documents and preceding cases. They will then assess the majority and minority decisions for the case.

Case background and primary sources concerning the Supreme Court case of Bush v. Gore. Dealing with the 2000 election, this lesson asks students whether or not they think the United States Supreme Court correctly decided the case.

This documentary tells the story of Lilly Ledbetter, whose fight for equal pay for equal work eventually involved all three branches of government. Her U.S. Supreme Court case, Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., turned on the interpretation of the 180-day statute of limitations for filing a discrimination complaint under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After losing at the Supreme Court, Ledbetter urged Congress to start the 180-day clock for filing a complaint on the date an employee learned of the discrimination. The result was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

Closed captions available in English and Spanish.

Carroll v. U.S. (1925) was the first decision in which the Supreme Court acknowledged an “automobile exception” to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Under this exception, an officer only needs probable cause to search a vehicle, rather than a search warrant.

Prerequisite: Students need to know the function of each of the branches of government. In this activity, students examine documents from U.S. history to examples of specific "checks and balances."

This lesson plan focuses on the essential question: How does philosophy affect the way a judge reads the Constitution and what is the effect of that? Teachers will use the Annenberg Classroom video âA Conversation on the Constitution: Judicial Interpretationâ in which Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, a strict constructionist, and Stephen Breyer, an evolutionist, debate how the Constitution should be interpreted.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and a group of students discuss the U.S. Supreme Court: its history and evolution; how the justices select, hear and decide cases; and the role of an independent judiciary and other issues crucial to a healthy democracy today.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer and a group of high school students discuss separation of powers among the three branches of government in connection with the pay discrimination case Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. that resulted in a 2009 law called the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer talks with high school students about the role and importance of dissenting opinions when the U.S. Supreme Court decides cases.

High school students join Justices Stephen G. Breyer, Anthony M. Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor to discuss why an independent judiciary is necessary and the way the Constitution safeguards the role of judges so that they in turn can safeguard the rights of minorities and those with unpopular views.

Before an audience of high school students, Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Antonin Scalia debate their different theories on how to interpret the Constitution and how they are applied to cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Scalia describes his textualist, strict constructionist philosophy while Justice Breyer explains his developmentalist, evolutionist philosophy.
Closed captions available in English.

This lesson explains the structure and function of the judicial branch. Students will learn how the Supreme Court originated, how cases are selected, and why it is an important institution. In the accompanying Annenberg Classroom video "A Conversation on the Constitution: The Origin, Nature and Importance of the Supreme Court," Chief Justice John G. Roberts answers students' questions about the Supreme Court and his role as chief justice of the United States.

In Cooper v. Aaron (1958), the United States Supreme Court ruled that an Arkansas School Board had to comply with federal court orders regarding desegregation. The decision affirmed and enforced the Court's previous ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

In this new version of Court Quest, jump on the Justice Express and help guide ordinary citizens who are looking for justice through local, state and federal court systems.

This discussion guide is for use with the video âDeciding Difficult Cases,â which features Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, interviewing the Hon. Emmet G. Sullivan, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, at the Fair and Impartial Judiciary Symposium on October 26, 2019, at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.