Collection image: "The US Supreme Court up close and personal" by Yellow3467 from Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA
In this lesson, students will learn about the actions of John Marshall concerning the Cherokee nation. They will explore how his actions helped to advance justice and, through his example, learn how they can advance justice in their own lives.
In this lesson, students will evaluate contradictory viewpoints concerning liberty and security. They will evaluate Supreme Court decisions regarding fair trials, due process, and the war on terror and evaluate whether the Constitution takes on different meanings during wartime.
Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine when criminal suspects should have access to an attorney. The majority found that someone suspected of a crime has the right to speak with an attorney during a police interrogation under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The Fair and Impartial Judiciary Symposium convened lawyers, scholars, judges and thought leaders at the University of Pennsylvania Law School to address the meaning and impact of an independent judiciary. The topics included the meaning of âfair and impartial judiciaryâ; the difference between state and federal courts; the challenges to judicial independence; deciding difficult cases; and the Supreme Court. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy gave the closing talk on âThe Nature of Judicial Independence.â The symposium was organized by the Rendell Center for Civics and Civic Education in partnership with the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. Discussion guides accompany the videos.
A list of fascinating facts about the Supremem Court of the United States of America
As students read have them note the ways in which Hamilton says the judiciaryÕs power will be limited.
Florida v. Bostick (1991) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether consensual searches of passenger luggage aboard a bus violated the Fourth Amendment. The Court found that the location of the search was only one factor in a larger question of whether or not a person actually had the free will to decline the search.
Discover the work of Cornelia Adèle Fassett, one of the first female portrait artists of the 19th century to portray American presidents, politicians, and Supreme Court Justices.
Furman v. Georgia (1972) was a landmark Supreme Court case in which a majority of justices ruled that existing death penalty schemes in states nationwide were arbitrary and inconsistent, violating the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In Georgia v. Randolph (2006), the U.S. Supreme Court found that evidence seized during an unwarranted search where two occupants are present but one objects to the search, cannot be used in court against the objecting occupant.
Goldberg v. Kelly (1970) asked the Supreme Court to determine whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies to welfare recipients who are about to lose their benefits. The landmark case hinged on whether or not public assistance could be considered “property” and whether the interests of the state or the individual took precedence.
A SCOTUS case study where the argument of whether the state or the nation has control when it comes to the growing and use of medical marijuana.
One of our oldest human rights, habeas corpus safeguards individual freedom by preventing unlawful or arbitrary imprisonment. This documentary examines habeas corpus and the separation of powers in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks as the Supreme Court tried to strike a balance between the president's duty to protect the nation and the constitutional protection of civil liberties in four major Guantanamo Bay cases: Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Rasul v. Bush, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and Boumediene v. Bush.
Closed captions available in English and Spanish.
This discussion guide is for use with the video âHow Do Judges Decide Cases?â which features the Hon. Anthony J. Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Stephen Burbank, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, at the Fair and Impartial Judiciary Symposium on October 26, 2019, at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Learn about the women who carved a path for future female advocates, judges, and Supreme Court Justices.
This documentary, featuring Justice Stephen G. Breyer and leading constitutional scholars, chronicles two key moments that defined our understanding of the role of the judiciary: the Cherokee Nation's struggles before the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1830s to preserve its homeland in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, and Cooper v. Aaron (1958), which affirmed that states were bound to follow the Court's order to integrate their schools. (34 min)
This lesson explores the role of the judiciary in relation to the legislative and executive branches and how judicial independence has evolved since the founding of the nation. Two significant cases covered in the lesson, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) and Cooper v. Aaron (1958), exemplify the importance of an independent judiciary. Students will use their knowledge based on watching the Annenberg Classroom video âAn Independent Judiciary.â
Ingraham v. Wright (1977) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if corporal punishment in public schools violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Court ruled that physical punishment does not qualify as "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Eighth Amendment.
This discussion guide is for use with the video âIs the Supreme Court Different?â which features a conversation with Linda Greenhouse, the Knight Distinguished Journalist in Residence and Joseph M. Goldstein Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, who is interviewed by Theodore W. Ruger, dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, at the Fair and Impartial Judiciary Symposium on October 26, 2019, at the Penn Law School.
John Jay was a man of great achievement. During his lifetime he was a Founding Father, Signer of the Treaty of Paris, Second Governor of New York, and First Chief Justice of the United States.