Name: ________________________________________________________ Date: ______________________________ Period: __________
Goings
Do Now:
Please answer the following questions using complete sentences
1. What is the US Constitution?
2. What is a constitutional right?
3. What is the Supreme Court?
4. What does the Supreme Court do?
The Supreme Court and Judicial Review
As the final arbiter of the law, the Supreme Court is charged with ensuring the American people the
promise of equal justice under law and, thereby, also functions as guardian and interpreter of the
Constitution. The unique position of the Supreme Court stems, in large part, from the deep commitment
of the American people to the Rule of Law and to constitutional government.
The United States has demonstrated an unprecedented determination to preserve and protect its written
Constitution, thereby providing the American "experiment in democracy" with the oldest written
Constitution still in force. The Constitution of the United States is a carefully balanced document. It is
designed to provide for a national government sufficiently strong and flexible to meet the needs of the
republic, yet sufficiently limited and just to protect the guaranteed rights of citizens; it permits a balance
between society's need for order and the individual's right to freedom. To assure these ends, the Framers
of the Constitution created three independent and coequal branches of government: the executive, the
legislative, and the judicial. The latter of these, the judicial, includes the Supreme Court.
The complex role of the Supreme Court in this system derives from its authority to invalidate legislation
or executive actions which, in the Court's considered judgment, conflict with the Constitution. This power
of "judicial review" has given the Court a crucial responsibility in assuring individual rights, as well as in
maintaining a "living Constitution" whose broad provisions are continually applied to complicated new
situations.
Reading Comprehension Questions: Please answer each of the following questions in full sentences
1. What is the Supreme Court’s role?
2. How does the Constitution limit the government?
3. How many branches of government are there and what are they?
4. What is judicial review?
Throughout the Supreme Court’s existence, it has ruled on many cases involving individual rights that are
written into the constitution. These rights are called constitutional rights and are easy to interpret in
different ways. As early as 1896, the Supreme Court faced rulings in regards to separate but equal
facilities and the teaching of foreign languages in schools. Below is a short list of cases that the Supreme
Court has dealt with in the last 60 years.
1956: The Supreme Court, without comment, affirmed a lower court ruling declaring segregation of the
Montgomery bus system illegal, giving a major victory to Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the
thousands of anonymous African Americans who had sustained the bus boycott in the face of violence
and intimidation.
1968: In Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., the Court held that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 bans racial
discrimination in housing by private, as well as governmental, housing providers.
1971: In Griggs v. Duke Power Co., the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
prohibits not only intentional job discrimination, but also employer practices that have a discriminatory
effect on minorities and women. The Court held that tests and other employment practices that
disproportionately screened out African American applicants for jobs at the Duke Power Company were
prohibited when the tests were not shown to be job-related.
1973: In Roe v. Wade, the Court ruled that a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th
Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that right must be balanced against
the state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting
women's health. Arguing that these state interests became stronger over the course of a pregnancy, the
Court resolved this balancing test by tying state regulation of abortion to the trimester of pregnancy.
1976: In General Electric Co. v. Gilbert, the Court ruled that firing or otherwise penalizing pregnant
workers was not an unlawful form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This
decision was legislatively overturned by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.
1978: In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court ruled that the medical
school's special admission program setting aside a fixed number of seats for minorities violated Title VI
of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. At the same time, however, in an opinion written by Justice Powerll, it ruled
that race could lawfully be considered as one of several factors in making admissions decisions. In his
opinion, Justice Powell noted that lawful affirmative action programs may be based on reasons other than
redressing past discrimination -- in particular, a university's educational interest in attaining a diverse
student body could justify appropriate affirmative action programs.
1984: In Grove City v. Bell, the Supreme Court interpreted Title IX very narrowly, constraining its
protections to the limited program within an institution that actually received federal funding - e.g., a
college's financial aid department - rather than covering the educational institution as a whole. Under this
interpretation, athletic programs (considered to be among the most unequal of all college and university
programs) were virtually immune from Title IX scrutiny because they rarely receive direct federal
funding. This decision was legislatively reversed with the enactment of the Civil Rights Restoration Act in
1988.
1986: The Court emphasized that lawful affirmative action programs cannot require that incumbent
white workers be discharged to make way for minority workers. In Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education,
the Court held that a public employer may not lay off more senior white workers to protect the jobs of
less senior black workers.
1986: In Bowers v. Hardwick, the Court upheld Georgia's state law making sodomy a crime. The Court
said that constitutional rights to privacy did not encompass what it called "homosexual sodomy," and that
the law served a legitimate state interest, namely promoting what the court defined as "majority
sentiments about ... morality."
1993: The Supreme Court issued a key decision interpreting the Age Discrimination in Employment Act
of 1967 (ADEA) in Hazen Paper Co. v. Biggins. This decision cut back protections for older workers under
the ADEA, by holding that an adverse employment decision that is based on a factor other than age does
not violate the ADEA -- even where the decisionmaking factor is motivated by a factor correlated to age,
such as years of service or pension status.
2000: In Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the Court ruled that the Boy Scouts' First Amendment rights of
free expression and association would be violated by enforcement of New Jersey's state
antidiscrimination law to prohibit them from dismissing a gay Scoutmaster.
2002: Zelman v. Simmons-Harris was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court which tested the
allowance of school vouchers in relation to the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
2002: Owasso Independent School District v. Falvo was a case in which the United States Supreme Court
held (in favor of the school district) that allowing students to score each other's tests and call out the
grades does not violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA).
2007: Morse v. Frederick was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held 5-4 that the
First Amendment does not prevent educators from suppressing student speech, at a school-supervised
event, that is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use.
2010: McDonald v. Chicago is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that
determined whether the Second Amendment applies to the individual states.
2013: Golinski v. Office of Personnel Management challenges the constitutionality of section 3 of the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the section that defines the terms "marriage" as "a legal union between
one man and one woman as husband and wife" and "spouse" as "a person of the opposite sex who is a
husband or a wife." These cases, along with others, are currently part of the Supreme Court’s docket.
Decisions will be made around August.
Case Study Project
Objective: SWBAT analyze various constitutional rights by creating case studies for various Supreme
Court cases that deal with these constitutional rights.
Directions: Please choose three Supreme Court cases that are listed on the last two pages. Once you
choose three, your job is to create three separate “case studies”. These case studies must following the
format below:
Student Name
Teacher Name
Class, Period
Date
1-inch
margins
on all
sides.
Times
New
Roman,
12 pt.
font.
CASE TITLE (YEAR)
Description of Case (at least 1 paragraph)
Sentence that states the decision of the court (majority-minority)
Description of the Significance of the Case (at least 1 paragraph)
Sources (listed in MLA format)
Remember that sources must be written in MLA format, which is below:
 Author or editor names (if available), followed by a period
 Article name in quotation marks (if available), followed by a period
 Title of the Website, project, or book in italics, followed by a period
 Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date (if available), followed by a
period
 Medium of publication (website, book, photograph, etc.), followed by a period
 Date you accessed the material, followed by a period
Name: ___________________________________________________
_________/ 45 points __________/ 100%
Case 1
1- described case
with very little
detail
0- did not state the
Court’s decision
1- stated the
Court’s decision but
it was either not
correct or was not
clear
2- stated the
Court’s decision but
was not complete.
0- did not describe
the significance
1- Described the
significance but
with very few
details
2- Described the
significance with
some details
0- did not list
sources
1- sources were not
all reputable
2- sources were not
listed in MLA
format correctly
3- sources were all
reputable and listed
correctly
0- Paper was
almost impossible
to understand due
to grammar and
spelling mistakes
1- Paper was very
difficult to
understand due to
grammar and
spelling mistakes
2- Paper was
somewhat difficult
to understand due
to grammar and
spelling mistakes
3- Paper was easy
to understand and
had very few
spelling and
grammar mistakes
Description of Case: Detailed, describes both
sides of the argument, is not biased
Sentence that states the Court’s decision:
Sentence states court’s decision clearly and
includes majority-minority in parentheses
Description of Significance: Describes the
significance of the case completely and fully,
including the part of the Constitution it dealt with
Sources: Sources are listed in MLA format and
are all reputable (news agencies, government and
classroom websites, etc.)
Grammar and Spelling: Paper is easy to read
and understand with few to no grammar and
spelling mistakes
Points
2- described case
with some detail
0- did not describe
case
3- described case
fully and with many
details
Sentence states
court’s decision
clearly and
completely. Also
includes majorityminority in
parentheses
3- Described the
significance fully
and with many
details.
Case 2
1- described case
with very little
detail
0- did not state the
Court’s decision
1- stated the
Court’s decision but
it was either not
correct or was not
clear
2- stated the
Court’s decision but
was not complete.
0- did not describe
the significance
1- Described the
significance but
with very few
details
2- Described the
significance with
some details
0- did not list
sources
1- sources were not
all reputable
2- sources were not
listed in MLA
format correctly
3- sources were all
reputable and listed
correctly
0- Paper was
almost impossible
to understand due
to grammar and
spelling mistakes
1- Paper was very
difficult to
understand due to
grammar and
spelling mistakes
2- Paper was
somewhat difficult
to understand due
to grammar and
spelling mistakes
3- Paper was easy
to understand and
had very few
spelling and
grammar mistakes
0- did not describe
case
1- described case
with very little
detail
0- did not state the
Court’s decision
1- stated the
Court’s decision but
it was either not
correct or was not
clear
2- stated the
Court’s decision but
was not complete.
0- did not describe
the significance
1- Described the
significance but
with very few
details
2- Described the
significance with
some details
0- did not list
sources
1- sources were not
all reputable
2- sources were not
listed in MLA
format correctly
3- sources were all
reputable and listed
correctly
0- Paper was
almost impossible
to understand due
to grammar and
spelling mistakes
1- Paper was very
difficult to
understand due to
grammar and
spelling mistakes
2- Paper was
somewhat difficult
to understand due
to grammar and
spelling mistakes
3- Paper was easy
to understand and
had very few
spelling and
grammar mistakes
Description of Case: Detailed, describes both
sides of the argument, is not biased
Sentence that states the Court’s decision:
Sentence states court’s decision clearly and
includes majority-minority in parentheses
Description of Significance: Describes the
significance of the case completely and fully,
including the part of the Constitution it dealt with
Sources: Sources are listed in MLA format and
are all reputable (news agencies, government and
classroom websites, etc.)
Grammar and Spelling: Paper is easy to read
and understand with few to no grammar and
spelling mistakes
Case 3
Description of Case: Detailed, describes both
sides of the argument, is not biased
Sentence that states the Court’s decision:
Sentence states court’s decision clearly and
includes majority-minority in parentheses
Description of Significance: Describes the
significance of the case completely and fully,
including the part of the Constitution it dealt with
Sources: Sources are listed in MLA format and
are all reputable (news agencies, government and
classroom websites, etc.)
Grammar and Spelling: Paper is easy to read
and understand with few to no grammar and
spelling mistakes
Points
2- described case
with some detail
0- did not describe
case
Points
2- described case
with some detail
3- described case
fully and with many
details
Sentence states
court’s decision
clearly and
completely. Also
includes majorityminority in
parentheses
3- Described the
significance fully
and with many
details.
3- described case
fully and with many
details
Sentence states
court’s decision
clearly and
completely. Also
includes majorityminority in
parentheses
3- Described the
significance fully
and with many
details.