You may have remembered as a child, after protesting some mistreatment, hearing the playground bully's retort of "Why don't you make a Federal Case Out of It?" Citizen's throughout U.S. history have done just, weaving through - usually first state then - federal court systems, till finding themselves in the "Court of Last Resort," their lawyers appealing to the Nine Justices, seeking their judicial remedy for rights violations. The justices, though, must issue their rulings based on the Constitution and its amendments. The accumulative cannon of previous decisions may guide them. But in the end they must decide how much they will go by the strict letter of the Constitution, or how much they'll abide by the wisdom of previous decisions (precedent), or set "new precedent" in interpreting the U.S. Constitution and its amendments. The Founding Fathers made it very difficult to amend the Constitution, two thirds of Congress and then three-fourths of the state legislatures are needed to ratify an amedment. Only 17 amendments have been added since the original ten, only two in the last 30 years. That makes the job of interpreting the Constitution in the context of an evolving society all the more challenging and important for the members of the bench, throughout history, of the "Highest Court in the Land."
Students after going through this simulation, should develop a better understanding of the interplay of history and Supreme Court decision making, become more familiarized with legal terminology; and develop some appreciation for how Supreme Court decisions are structured, and their political implications.
The rulings chosen for this simulation emphasize the concepts of "equal protection," "due process," and "protection against self-incrimination." The first cases involve election and voting issues, and the subsequent cases involve "due process" and related issues which come up in interrogations and criminal trials. In light of the recent ruling of Bush v. Gore, which emphasized the "equal protection" clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, it is interesting to note that our first case also concerns how the "equal protection" clause should be applied to the right of women to vote.
Students will simply click the link at the bottom of this page, to read excerpts of summaries of given cases, then try to guess the outcome of a particular case. Links will be provided to further study case before moving to next case. There are 12 cases in all. Students should keep the talking/study points, below, in mind when reviewing the cases. At the end of the simulation Internet sources are provided for further study. Students will also get a chance to browse through U.S. History links, before, during and or after studying cases. The professor may also want to assign appropriate readings from the class textbook and its bibliography to correspond with this simulation.
How much might the political perspectives and realities of the time influence Supreme Court decision making?
Why does the "equal protection" clause come up so much in these cases?
What might Americans learn about their narrative history through reading Supreme Court decisions?
What might Americans learn about the evolution of their political history through reading Supreme Court decisions?
Whose wagging whose tail? How much has the Supreme court influenced the evolving politics of American and vice versa?
Let's now start our journey through the history of U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Click here to begin.