Pathfinder:  Supreme Court Paper assignment Mr. Macaluso

 

Objective:  To understand the role of the Supreme Court and other inferior federal courts in interpreting the civil rights and civil liberties embodied in the U.S. Constitution.

 

Assignment:  You will choose a landmark case decided by the Supreme Court in the last century that made a significant ruling on a specific civil liberty or civil right.  You must first explore the civil liberty or civil right in question, examine the circumstances of the case, explain the logic of the majority opinion and any minority or concurring opinions.  Once you have fully explicated the case, you must draw some conclusions about what you have learned.  This is not necessarily a thesis like you are using to argue.  Instead, it should be a reflection on the specifics of the case and the way they fit into U.S, History and culture.

 

Case selection:

 

You must find a landmark Supreme Court case decided within the last 100 years.  You must hand in a paper with the following information:

 

  1. The name of the case (ex. Roe v Wade, Brown v Topeka Board of Education)
  2. The liberty or right in question.  You must point to a specific passage or passages in the Constitution that establish this right. Quote actual passages.
  3. Give the names of all the justices on the Court at the time and signify whether they voted for the majority or minority opinion or wrote a concurring opinion.
  4. Explain what the Court actually decided.

 

Final paper:

 

The following is a description of what must be included in your final paper.  However, it is up to you to determine the order and the layout of this information.

 

  1. The facts of the case.  A full description of the case. 
  2. How the case got to the Supreme Court.  An in depth description of the logic of the all the Court’s decisions (minority, majority and concurring.)

 

  1. Analysis:  Your explication of the case.

Here is where you either come to some conclusion about the case or use this case to come to some conclusion about US society, culture, or history. 

 

Length: 6 – 8 pages

 

Print Sources: 

The following books are on reserve behind the circulation desk in the library for you to review – please see the librarian for check out procedure.

 

 

Actual case documents:

 

 

347. 73 Lan     Landmark Decisions of the US Supreme Court – series of 6 volumes

Edited into plain non-legal English for the general reader.  The actual text of 12 major US Supreme Court decisions included in each volume.

 

347.302  Civ  Civil Rights Decisions of the United States Supreme court the 19th century

Edited version of the official texts that provide a brief history of the case; the opinion expressed by the Justice chosen to speak for the majority and a bibliography.  The first of two volumes, features the Supreme Court’s most important civil rights decisions for the years 1831-1896.  It covers the post-Revolutionary War period through the American Civil War into the reconstruction Era and up to the turn of the Century.  This book is divided into three sections:  The Native Americans, The African Americans; Chinese American Cases.

 

347.302 Civ  Civil Rights Decisions of the United States Supreme Court the 20th century

Edited version of the official texts that provide a brief history of the case; the opinion expressed by the Justice chosen to speak for the majority and a bibliography.  The second of a two volume set, features the most important civil rights decisions issued from the turn of the century through the present day.  It is divided into two sections: the Japanese American Decisions and the African American Decisions. 

 

363.4 Abo   Abortion Abortion347.302 Civ c.2 Civil Rights Decisions of the United States 1970’s

363.4 Abo   Abortion Decisions of Supreme Court the United States 1980’s20th century

363.4 Abo   Abortion Decisions of the United States  1990’s

Edited versions of the official texts issues by the Supreme Court that provide the majority opinion of the Court as expressed by the chief Justice chosen to speak for the Court as well as all concurring and dissenting opinions of the Justices and a complete copy of the U.S.Constitution to which all decisions refer follows the abortion decisions.  This Abortion Decision series features major abortion decisions issued in the decade noted.

 

REF 347.73 FIN  Landmark decisions of the United States Supreme Court,  Paul Finkelman , 2003

Comprehensive reference of landmark cases and the decisions they rendered.

 

Reference:

 

REF 437.73 SUP   The Supreme Court Compendium 3rd ed.

Data, Decisions & Developments, 2003

Comprehensive collection of data and relevant information on the Supreme Court including characteristics of the Court and its members, to the environment in which it operates, to the public’s views on its decisions and perceptions about the Court itself.

 

REF 347.73 SHU   The Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court, 2005

Reference source that provides an overview of the major cases, concepts, and issues and of the personalities who have shaped it and American politics.  Seeks to demystify the Court.

 

REF 348.73 Oxf c2.  The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions, 1999

Guide to analyze on an individual basis the 440 most important cases in the Court’s history.  Source sheds light on the evolution of constitutional law and also maps the nation’s underlying social, cultural, and political dynamics.

 

Non –fiction:

 

347.73 BAL The Supreme Court in the intimate Lives of Americans:  Birth, Sex, marriage, Childrearing and Death, Howard Ball, 2002

Discusses the Court’s role in topics which relate to the most private, intimate areas of the lives of American citizens. 

 

347.7326 Baum The Supreme Court 2nd ed., Lawrence Baum, 1985

Provides an understanding of that most important political institution - a short but comprehensive source.  Describes the basic workings of the Court and offers explanations for the behavior and the people and institutions that affect the Court.

 

347.73 GRE Great American Trials, 1994

Provides readers with a brief, accurate, and readable summary of the most significant and celebrated trials in U.S. History.

 

347.73 Iro A People’s History of the Supreme Court, Peter Irons, 1999

Represents scrupulous record of legal scholarship and the history of the Supreme Court and its decisions.  It delves into cases that Professor Irons uncovered in the course of his research and illustrates the abiding concern for human rights, sometime violated by the law, sometimes upheld.

 

342.73 The Courage of their Convictions:  Sixteen Americans who fought their way to the Supreme Court, Peter Irons, 1990

Study of sixteen individual cases and the people behind them that made their way to the Supreme Court told by esteemed professor of constitutional law.

 

347.73 Capitol games: Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, and the Story of a Supreme Court Nomination, Timothy Phelps and Helen Winternitz, 1992

presents the series of tumultuous events that led to Clarence Thomas’s elevation to the Supreme Court

 

347.7326 Rehniqui The Supreme Court:  How it was; How it is, William Rehnquist, 1940

Personal insights into the workings and history as well as the decisions of this institution told from an insider’s point of view.  It is an effort to understand the territory between American history and constitutional law and includes a portrayal of some important justices.

347.732 Schwart A History of the Supreme Court, Bernard Schwartz, 1993

Chronological history of the Court in relation to the development of the nation.  Seeks to show the Court as a mirror and a motor- reflecting the development of the society which it serves.

 

347.73 Sup  The Supreme Court A to Z 2nd ed, 1998  Congressional Quarterly’s ready reference Encyclopedia of American Government

Provides a comprehensive accessible source of information about history , powers and operations of the three branches of governments

 

347.73 Woo The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court, Bob Woodward, 1975

Detailed behind the scenes account of the Supreme Court’s landmark decisions over the late 1950’s through the late 1970’s.

 

Database Resources: 

 

Note on periodical literature:  offers very opinionated but useful discussions of cases.  Students should learn to discern biases inherent in these articles.

 

The following databases can be access from the GCS Library Homepage:  The search strategy here is based on a generic keyword search on “civil rights” and the “Supreme court”.  Once you’ve identified your specific civil right case – then you would enter that in a keyword search to retrieve articles specific to your case.

 

 

I.  Opposing Viewpoints:

Using the Advanced Search mode:  enter terms supreme court (keyword) and

civil rights (keyword) or your specific case/topic

 

Important Note:  The results of your search can be retrieved in three different formats: Viewpoint essays; Referencereference: Magazines & Newspapers; Web sites etc by clicking on those tabs at the top of your result lists.

 

The articles/essays retrieve are list chronologically most recent articles first – going back.

 

II. 

 

 

Proquest Databases

 

Option 1.  linking directly into eLibrary Curriculum Edition:

 

There are three tabs for different type of searches:  Search; Topics; Reference.

 

A. Search:

Access: Enter terms: “Supreme Court” and “Civil Rights” (or your specific case/topic) You should check the Boolean Operator option. You can use the advanced search feature.  You can sort your results by relevance (the default); date, etc

Content: Generates items in a number of different formats noted in top tabs.

B:  Topics:

Access: Go to Government and click United States Government; Then go to Judical Branch and click Supreme Court.

Content: Individual links to information on the following – Current Justices; Directories of Opinions (this is especially helpful link as it contain a number of additional links to quality web sites); Featured Justices; Landmark Decisions; Reference of Justices; Supreme Court General Info

 

C. Reference:

Access:  Enter Supreme Court as search term.

Content:  A variety of entries from reference sources

 

Option 2.  History Study Center

Access: Click eLibrary Curriculum and go into the link on left hand side of page for “History” this is the access point for the History Study Center.  Enter “supreme court” in the search box and retrieve a variety of sources: Study Units; Historical documents; Maps and reference; multimedia and journals.  Click each source to retrieve information in that format.

 

III. Proquest Platinum

 

Access:  Enter search terms “Supreme Court” and “Civil Rights” (or your specific case/topic) You may want to limit by full text and scholarly journal – peer reviewed.

Content:  A variety of articles on this general topic including subject heading listing.

 

VI. EBSCO

 

Access:  Click EBSCO Host.

Check off on Database List:  History Reference Center ; MAS Ultra – School Edition.

Enter search terms in Find box:  “Supreme Court” and “Civil Rights” (or your specific case/topic.) You may want to limit by Limit Full Text and Peer Reviewed.

Content:  A variety of articles covering the topic.  You can sort by several options.

 

V. SIRS Knowledge Source

 

Access: Click SIRS Knowledge Source.

Enter search term: Supreme Court as either a subject or a keyword/natural language search.  Results in subject deal with individual cases in certain subjects; results in keyword deal with information about the court and decisions in a variety of formats:  newspapers, magazines, gov doc, primary sources, references, graphics and webselect sites.

 

 

 

 

 

Internet Resources:

 

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/   This is the actual site for the US Supreme Court.  Students should be able to navigate.

 

http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/cases/historic.htm One of the best websites on this subject emanates from Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute. Index to “Selected Historic Decisions of the US Supreme Court. The “Topic” Index has a “Civil Rights” cases sub-category.