Name _________________
MOCK SUPREME COURT CONFERENCE
DUE PROCESS OF LAW &
BAN ON CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT
FIFTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUITION
“……no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself,
nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law”
1) What do you think the “due process” clause of the 5th Amendment means?
2) Exclusionary Rule (p. 114) –
3) Mapp v. Ohio (1963) (p. 116) –
4) Miranda v. Arizona (1966) (p. 118) -
5) Why is Miranda v. Arizona controversial?
SIXTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION
“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public
trial, by an impartial jury…and have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”
7) What is the purpose of the 6th Amendment?
8) Why do you think it is required in the Constitution that a citizen have access to counsel
(a lawyer)?
9) Gideon v. Wainwright (1964)
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EIGHTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION
“Excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
punishments inflicted.”
10. Your group must come up with a definition of “cruel and unusual” punishment. What is it?
Case One: Furman v. Georgia (1972)
Facts of the Case
Furman was burglarizing a private home when a family member discovered him. He
attempted to flee, and in doing so tripped and fell. The gun that he was carrying went
off and killed a resident of the home. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to
death.
Question
Does the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty in these cases constitute
cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?
(accidental murder)
Case Two Atkins v. Virginia (2002)
Facts of the Case:
Daryl Renard Atkins was convicted of abduction, armed robbery, and capital murder
while drunk and high. In the penalty phase of Atkins' trial, the defense relied on one
witness, a forensic psychologist, who testified that Atkins was mildly mentally retarded,
though he lived on his own and had a job.
Question:
Is the execution of mentally retarded persons "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibited
by the Eighth Amendment?
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Case Three Roper v. Simmons (2004)
Facts of the Case:
Christopher Simmons was sentenced to death in 1993, when he was only 17 for a brutal
premeditated murder.
Question:
Does the execution of minors violate the prohibition of "cruel and unusual punishment"
found in the Eighth Amendment and applied to the states through the incorporation
doctrine of the 14th Amendment?
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MOCK SUPREME COURT CONFERENCE
EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW
FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT
“No state shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law…nor deny
any person ..the equal protection of the laws.”
COMMERCE CLAUSE OF THE CONSTITUTION
Congress has the power to ”regulate commerce with foreign nations, among the several states…”
(Some of these questions may require outside research)
1) What is the significance of the 14th Amendment?
2) What do you think the “equal protection” clause means?
3) Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)-
4) separate but equal –
5) Brown v. Board of Education (1954) page 129.
6) De facto segregation-
7) De jure segregation –
8) Civil Rights Act of 1964-
9) affirmative action –
10) reverse discrimination –
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Case one: Baker v. Carr (1962)
Facts of the Case:
Charles W. Baker and other Tennessee citizens alleged that a 1901 law
designed to apportion the seats for the state's General Assembly was virtually
ignored. Baker's suit detailed how Tennessee's reapportionment efforts ignored
significant economic growth and population shifts within the state.
Question:
Does the “equal protection clause” of the 14th Amendment allow the Supreme
Court have jurisdiction over questions of legislative apportionment?
Case Two: Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenberg Board of Education (1971)
Facts of the Case
After the Supreme Court's decision in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education,
little progress had been made in desegregating public schools. One example
was the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, system in which approximately
14,000 black students attended schools that were either totally black or more
than 99 percent black. Lower courts had experimented with a number of
possible solutions when the case reached the Supreme Court – including court
mandated busing (students from white neighborhoods were bused to black
schools, students from black schools were bused to white schools to achieve
racial integration).
Question
Were federal courts constitutionally authorized to oversee and produce
remedies (court orders) for state-imposed segregation? (This means that
school systems bused students to achieve racial integration)
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Case Three: Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964)
Facts of the Case
Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade racial discrimination by places of
public accommodation if their operations affected commerce. The Heart of
Atlanta Motel in Atlanta, Georgia, refused to accept Black Americans and was
charged with violating Title II. Freedom riders who were black were refused
service. Hotel argued this was their right.
Question
Did Congress, in passing Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, exceed its
Commerce Clause powers by depriving motels, such as the Heart of Atlanta, of
the right to choose their own customers?
Case Four: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
Facts of the Case
Allan Bakke, a thirty-five-year-old white man, had twice applied for admission
to the University of California Medical School at Davis. He was rejected both
times. The school reserved sixteen places in each entering class of one
hundred for "qualified" minorities, as part of the university's affirmative action
program, in an effort to redress longstanding, unfair minority exclusions from
the medical profession. Bakke's qualifications (college GPA and test scores)
exceeded those of any of the minority students admitted in the two years
Bakke's applications were rejected. Bakke contended, first in the California
courts, then in the Supreme Court, that he was excluded from admission solely
on the basis of race.
Question
Did the University of California violate the Fourteenth Amendment's equal
protection clause, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by practicing an affirmative
action policy based on a quota?
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