Essay Assignment: Supreme Court decisions
Instructions
Pick a landmark case and explain the outcome
Summarize your answer in a 350 words essay that responds to these questions:
i. Why did you pick this case?
ii. What were the facts - parties and issues? Be specific about who sued who and for what reason.
iii. What was the legal ruling in the case?
iv. Was the decision unanimous or split? Appointees by which president had the most influence (in other words, identify who was in the majority and which president appointed those justices.
v. In your view, is this an example of the Court following public opinion or would this case better be described as the Court trying to shape or lead public opinion? You can use this section to comment more broadly on the impacts of or public reaction to the case if you have that information.
If you know the name of the case (e,g. "Brown v. Board of Education"), a useful resource to understand the decision is oyez.org. Enter the case name in the search tool on the homepage.
Need help picking case? These are just some ideas in many categories - you can choose any case you like. There are other cases described in chapters on civil rights and civil liberties, but these are some of the big ones.
Civil rights - USE THIS ONE BELOW
Loving v. Virginia (interracial marriage)
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
i) The answer should be typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), double spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides.
ii) The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
iii) Also include a reference page. The Citations and references must follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.