Assignment Instructions
Please brief the case: Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966).
The case is attached below in PDF. Please make sure to thoroughly read the entire case before you begin writing. Please message me if this is your first case brief or you need assistance. Additionally, please review the attached Rubric below.
Your brief should be approximately 2 pages in length,single spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font, with 1" margins. A title page is not needed. Please submit as a word document with your name, i.e. Smithcasebrief.doc
Attach your case brief in the Assignment in Word format.
Your brief must be structured with following headings in bold face as follows:
CASE CITATION: This is done for you above in proper Bluebook format.
PARTIES: Who are the Defendants? Plaintiffs? Appellants? Appellees?
FACTS: Who did what to whom? Include all facts the court considered significant. Summarize in your own words. DO NOT cut and paste from the opinion. Don't forget in-text citations.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY: Who is asking the court to do what? How did the case procedurally get before this court?
ISSUE: What question did the court have to answer in order to make their decision? Your issue(s) should be stated in the form of a question.
The issue and holding can be in echo sentence format, i.e. Issue: What the defendant's speech protected by the First Amendment? Holding: No, the defendant's speech is not protected by the First Amendment because the speech incited imminent lawless action, which is not a protected form of speech.
HOLDING: Which way did the court answer the questions posed in the issue? What did they decide in a one sentence rule of law that answers the issue question?
REASONING: Why did the court decide the case the way it did? What legal standard did they use or establish? What prior cases did the Court rely upon and why?
This is a very important part of the brief. The Reasoning section describes why and how the court reached its holding in the case. WHY did the Court decide as it did? Were there important cases the Court relied on in their analysis? This should be the longest section in your brief and contain several paragraphs.
DECISION: This section gives the Judgment rendered by the court. Describe the final disposition of the case. Did the court affirm the lower court's decision, reverse it, and/or remand it for additional proceedings?
COMMENTS: Is there anything else that should be mentioned about this case? Is it a "landmark" case? Was the court "divided"? Were there any weaknesses/discrepancies in the court's opinions? What were your personal thoughts on the case?
Legal case names should be done in standard "Bluebook" format. Example: York v. Smith, 65 U.S. 294 (1995). For more information on case brief format see "How to Brief a Case" below. There is also a model case brief in the case attached that you may review. I want the brief to be in your own words, so do NOT include extremely long quotes from the opinion itself. Your brief should be approximately 2 pages in length. The majority of the citations will be inside the Reasoning section.
Case briefs are used to highlight the key information contained within a case for use within the legal community as court cases can be quite lengthy.
When writing case briefs, all information must be properly cited. Make sure you are not JUST copying and pasting from your source. Most of the material should be paraphrased; quotations should make up no more than 10% of the brief. HOWEVER, just because you are paraphrasing does not mean you do not need CITATIONS!!! Your case brief should have a citation after almost every sentence, even when you do not have a quotation.
Note: since the purpose to is highlight and summarize key information, merely copying and pasting from the case does not accomplish this goal. You must summarize the facts in your own words, using quotations sparingly.