Name: _____________________________________________
Related Amendment #: __________
Civil Liberties Case Study
Your job will be to research one of the assigned cases and produce a case study related to civil liberties. Your report
should include the following information:
1.
Review the facts:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
2.
Frame the issue:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
3.
What happened in this case?
Who are the parties involved?
What facts are important? Unimportant?
Is any significant information missing?
Why did the people involved act the way they did?
Who was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?
What is the legal issue?
What is the public policy issue?
What values are in conflict?
What are the practical realities of the case?
Discuss the arguments:
a.
b.
c.
What are the arguments for and against each point of view?
Which arguments are most persuasive?
What might be the consequences of each course of action for the parties and society?
4.
Reach a decision:
a. What did the courts decide in the case?
b. Do you agree or disagree with it?
c. What does the decision mean for the parties and society?
5.
Discuss the opinion:
a. Explain the reasons why the court came to the decision.
b. How did the Court vote on this decision?
6.
Discuss the significance:
a. In terms of expansion, restriction or simply the further definition of governmental power.
b. Remember, sometimes the significance is NOT directly related to the facts of the case!
You need to choose ONE of the following cases (first come first serve). You need to inform us of the case you
choose PRIOR to starting your case study:
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
Katz v. U. S.(1967)
In re Gault (1967)
Shephard v. Maxwell (1966)
McClesky v. Kemp (1987)
Terry v. Ohio (1968)
Rochin v. California (1952)
Barker v. Wingo (1972)
Furman v. Georgia (1972)
U.S. v. Leon (1984)
Goss v. Lopez (1975)
Taylor v. Louisiana (1975)
Ingraham v. Wright (1977)
New Jersey v. TLO (1985)
Bolling v. Sharpe (1954)
Coy v. Iowa (1988)
Glass v. Louisiana (1985)
Use the following sources to find information on your case study:
 Your text book!
 Monk textbook (use index to find where case is mentioned in the text, then skim the chapter.
 www.oyez.org (go to cases, and look for case by date)
 ABC-CLIO Government database (do a search by the case)