Supreme Court Case Research Project
Landmark decisions made by the Supreme Court of the United States greatly
influence our daily lives. Many of these cases require the Supreme Court Justices to
interpret the Constitutional powers of the federal government. Two of our Founding
Fathers, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, had different beliefs about how our
government should be.
Task: You will be assigned a landmark Supreme Court case. You must develop a thesis
around the following questions: “How would Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson
feel about this case? How would they feel about the decision made as well as the impact
the case had on our country?” In order to do a credible job you must provide the
historical background/context of the case, the Constitutional issue being analyzed,
the Court’s decision, and the impact that the decision has on our country. Then
provide analysis of these things from the perspective of both Jefferson and Hamilton.
The goal is to relate the decision and its impact to the power of the Federal Government
and its role in our lives.
In addition to reading the Court’s opinion (including any dissenting opinions) you must
have other sources. Instead of a paper, you will be filling out a chart, but you will still
need a works cited page.
Please keep in mind, a deep and full understanding of Jefferson and Hamilton will be
required to do a thoughtful analysis of the case. Be sure to study the quotes of each man I
handed out too. These will help you with the justification column.
Important Supreme Court Cases or look at my list in class
 McCulloch v. Maryland
 New York Times Co. v. United
States
 Gibbons v. Ogden
 United States v. Nixon
 Worcester v. Georgia
 Bakke v. U. of CA. Board of
 The Wabash Cases
Regents
 Northern Securities Co. v. United

New Jersey v. TLO
States
 Cruzan v. Director, Missouri
 Lochner v. New York
Health Department
 Muller v. Oregon

Vernonia School District v.
 Schenck v. US
Acton
 Schecter Poultry Co. vs. US
 Korematsu v. US
 Watkins v. US
 Mapp v. Ohio
 Engle v. Vitale
 Gideon v. Wainwright
 Miranda v. Arizona
 Tinker v. Des Moines
I signed up for ___________________
Recreate this chart in your own file.
Name of Case
Hamilton’s
Justification Jefferson’s
Justification
Feelings/Reacti
Feelings/Reactions
ons
Background of
Case
Constitutional
Issues
Decision of Case
Short Term
Impact
Long Term
Impact
Thesis Statement
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