Name:
Date:
Government
Mr. Radzicki
The First Amendment: A Do Over
There have been many times throughout history when people could look
back at an event and wonder, “what if it turned out differently?” For instance,
what if we DID NOT drop atomic bombs on Japan? How would World War Two
have turned out then? How would that have affected the Cold War? Or you may
wonder, what if Barry Bonds actually DID steroids? How many home runs may
he have hit then?
Working with our First Amendment unit, we’re going to look at a series of
court decisions and wonder the same thing- what if? Except instead of
wondering, we’re going to fight it out. We are going to re-argue specific cases to
see if the original outcome was the “right” outcome, or if we can reach a different
conclusion. It will allow us a little bit of what’s called “revisionist history,” which is
when we apply our modern values and beliefs to situation in the past. The cases
we will re-argue are as follows:
Bigelow v. Virginia
R.A.V v. City of St. Paul
Morse v. Frederick
Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe
City of Erie v. PAPS AM
Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico
West Virginia State Board of Ed v. Barnette
J.S. v. Bethlehem Area School District
Lee v. Weisman
Doninger v. Niehoff
National Socialist Party v. Skokie
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
Texas V. Johnson
You will pick a series of cases, and work in pairs to create a new
argument based on the original case, both for the respondent and complainant.
You can find cases along the way that will help shape your arguments, such as
past decisions in different cases, or the prior decision in your own case from
lower courts. The following websites will be of use to you:
Oyez.org
supremecourt.gov
firstamendmentcenter.org
http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html