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Lesson Plan
Heritage Foundation

Courts and Judges

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
If the Supreme Court is so supreme, why do all cases not just start there? High schoolers learn why every case does not start at the Supreme Court as well as the importance of hierarchy in the US judicial system in the 11th installment...
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Lesson Plan
Street Law

The Challenge of Selecting an Ideal Supreme Court Nominee

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
Nearly every president has had the opportunity to name a nominee to the United States Supreme Court. But what makes someone an ideal candidate to become a Supreme Court justice? High schoolers test their prior knowledge about the Supreme...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Oklahoma and Segregation

For Teachers 9th - 11th Standards
It was not just the states of the Deep South that practiced segregation. Young historians investigate the history of segregation and desegregation in Oklahoma. They begin by reading, annotating, and analyzing an article about the impacts...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

Analyzing a Letter from Ruth Bader Ginsburg

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Before her career as a Supreme Court Justice, the Notorious RBG was a legal activist for women's rights. Using a letter from then-Professor Ginsburg, young historians carefully examine a letter from Ginsburg to a member of Congress...
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Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

Franklin Roosevelt's Proposal for Reforming the Supreme Court: 168 Days of National Debate

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Was it overreach or wise executive functioning? Scholars have long debated Franklin Roosevelt's court-packing scheme when he attempted to stack the court with justices friendlier to his New Deal measures. Now, learners pick up the...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!: Simulating the Supreme Court

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Learners have freedom of speech—or do they? Using an actual court case and research materials on the Supreme Court, young legal scholars examine the Supreme Court's role and history. Then, they argue a case the court declined to hear and...
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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Voting Discrimination and the Effects of Shelby County v. Holder

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Show students that every vote counts as they debate the federal government 's role in protecting voting rights in historically racially discriminated areas. In the Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder, the high court found that...
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Lesson Plan
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C-SPAN

Supreme Court Justices Research and Resumes

For Teachers 6th - 12th
According to Article III, Section1 of the United States constitution, the only qualification one needs to be appointed to the Supreme Court is to demonstrate "good behavior." The president and Congress are given the power to determine...
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Studying Conflicting Interpretations: Perspectives on Plessy v. Ferguson: Part 3

For Teachers 8th Standards
Scholars closely read Justice John Marshall Harlan's dissenting opinion in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, seeking to understand why he disagreed with the court's decision that racial segregation laws for public spaces were constitutional....
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Lesson Plan
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PBS

The Supreme Court: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
While World War II changed the international order, it also led to a fundamental shift in the concept of civil rights within the United States. Using a video and discussion questions, class members consider the effects the war had to the...
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Interactive
iCivics

Supreme Decision

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Is the right to wear a band t-shirt included in our freedom of speech? Budding historians consider the question by using a video game. After a brief animated video, users drop in and listen to Supreme Court justices as they debate the...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

The Supreme Court: The Importance of Precedent in the Decisions of the Supreme Court

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
People often hear the words precedent and Supreme Court together, but why? A resource on the Supreme Court includes a variety of discussion questions, handouts that guide young historians, a video about Nixon and the court system, and...
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Interactive
2
2
Judicial Learning Center

The Power of Judicial Review

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Marbury v. Madison is arguably the most important landmark case in the history of the Supreme Court. A fact-filled lesson provides background information about the case and two others related to the concept of judicial review. Scholars...
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Interactive
1
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Judicial Learning Center

Your 1st Amendment Rights

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Why should classes care about the First Amendment? An engaging lesson serves as a powerful tool for answering just that. As all four cases in the lesson relate directly to freedom of expression in schools, young scholars explore the...
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Interactive
2
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Judicial Learning Center

The Appeal Process

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Why doesn't the Supreme Court hear testimony from witnesses? How do they complete an entire proceeding in less than two hours? A helpful lesson guides scholars of criminology through these and other questions by explaining how appeals...
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Interactive
2
2
Judicial Learning Center

The U.S. Supreme Court

For Students 6th - 12th
How do Supreme Court justices determine which cases to consider? What happens when the Supreme Court decides not to take a case?  The lesson explores important questions and others in the field of criminology. It focuses on the appeals...
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Lesson Plan
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iCivics

Mini Lesson: Supreme Court Opinions

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The court of last resort. Historians research, using current cases and issues, the impact the Supreme Court of the United States has on how our nation operates. They analyze recent decisions made by the nine judges and determine how the...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Explicit and Implicit Language – Interpreting the Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment

For Teachers 6th - 9th Standards
How do Supreme Court justices interpret amendments to the Constitution? The resource helps answer that question by discussing how people use explicit and implicit language to interpret the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. Learners...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Analyzing McCulloch v. Maryland

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
What happened in the Supreme Court case of McCulloch v. Maryland? The resource teaches the specifics of the case with a video and provided discussion questions covering issues such as precedent and the Supreme Court as an equal branch of...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

The Supreme Court: Liberty of Contract

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How did the Supreme Court apply the Fourteenth Amendment to cases involving working people? Learn all about labor rights in a resource that focuses on the liberty of contract and protections for workers. Scholars complete handouts that...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

The Supreme Court: Define and Classify the Powers Associated with Federalism

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Federalism may sound to some like one, big vocabulary word ... but it is much more than that. A short video introduces class members to the powers associated with the Supreme Court and its role in balancing the powers under federalism.
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Understanding and Applying the Miranda Decision

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How does the Supreme Court Miranda decision affect court cases? Scholars watch a video about the decision, discuss its application in various cases, fill out multiple handouts, and work in groups to better understand how much weight the...
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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Conducting a Moot Court

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
Review the conduct of different roles within the Supreme Court. A moot court activity educates learners about the roles of each member of the court and the process of a case with video clips, research activities, a graphic organizer,...
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Lesson Plan
Ohio Center For Law-Related Education

Four Activities: Thurgood Marshall and the Nomination and Confirmation of Federal Judges

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
The process of nominating and confirming federal judges can sound like a lot of bureaucratic hoops, but a resource breaks down the steps of the Supreme Court nominations in a simpler manner. Learners participate in four activities that...