Supreme Court Rulings

What functions do laws serve in our society? Your learners will be guided through several interactive activities to address this question, and to consider the impact of rule of law in American society.

Dred Scott was a harbinger of the Civil War. An enslaved man claimed freedom because his owner had taken him into free territory. Not only did the Supreme Court rule that Dred Scott and his wife were to remain enslaved, but it also ruled...

Examine the Supreme Court case, District of Columbia vs Heller, to build a better understanding of the Bill of Rights. Learners visit three different websites, read the provided informational text, and then answer a series of critical...

How can you get a case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States? Learners research the way a court case ends up in the highest court in the 20th installment of a 50-part series covering the United States government and...

After oral arguments and the lawyers go home, what actually happens in the Supreme Court? Justice Stephen Breyer describes how members of the court discuss cases and write opinions behind the scenes. Though their discussions involve...

Learners explore Supreme Court cases that featured Civil Rights issues. In this Supreme Court lesson, students examine primary source records regarding Rosa Parks, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the Browder v Gayle case, in order to...

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...

What do FDR, the New Deal, and the Supreme Court have in common? All three were involved in a court case that granted a maid back wages, so she received the minimum wage at the time—a case in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of...

Politicians in robes! While judges in the United States can be appointed by an elected official or directly elected by the people. Supreme Court justices, however, are appointed by the President. But should they be? That is the question...

Most Americans expect to wake up the morning after a presidential election knowing who won. That didn't happen during the 2000 election between Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore. The Supreme Court had to weigh in on a messy...