People's Rights Change With the Decisions of the Courts

Prompted by a viewing of Emiko and Chizu Omori’s Rabbit in the Moon, a documentary about the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, high schoolers examine a series of documents, including the Bill of Rights and the UN’s...

What basic rights are guaranteed to all Americans? Do citizens, legal aliens, illegal aliens, and minors all have the same rights? Should individuals all over the world enjoy the same rights? Class members read the Declaration of...

As part of a study of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, class members examine four Supreme Court decisions—Gitlow v. New York, Mapp v. Ohio, Gideon v. Wainwright, and Griswold v. Connecticut—that incorporated the due...

If aliens invaders nearly destroy the world in the distant future and leaders must decide on a pamphlet of protections to preserve individual rights, what should they include? Introduce the Bill of Rights and the struggle between the...

In groups, learners review one of four selected Supreme Court cases. The whole class watches a video introducing the four cases, and then small groups dive into Internet research in an attempt to write a two-paragraph summary of the...

A substantive New York Times article about the U.S.A. Patriot Act, military tribunals, racial profiling, and the Bill of Rights forms the basis for a discussion of the complex interplay of fundamental American rights and the aftermath of...

While the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution to preserve liberty, not everyone was on board. The dissenters refused to sign on unless the Constitutional Convention added a Bill of Rights. Viewers explore these important civil...

The Supreme Court gets all the glory, but very few federal cases make it to the highest court. An interesting lesson explores the structure of the lower levels of the federal court system. In addition to outlining the organization of...

Protecting basic liberties was at the heart of the American Revolution. However, it wasn't until after the Constitutional Convention that the Founding Fathers added a list of rights guaranteed to the people, now our most important legal...

Where did the cherished ideals enshrined in the Bill of Rights originate? While history gives the Founding Fathers much of the credit, laws in colonial America influenced the Bill of Rights. An interactive web-based activity allows...