Supreme Court Rulings

What comes to mind when learners think about campaign financing? Secondary pupils watch a video about the fundraising climate during the 2012 presidential election and discuss Super PACs and Supreme Court legislation as a group. Focusing...

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...

Does a public school have the right to restrict what t-shirts students wear? Discover what happened when this question was brought to the Supreme Court, and review other major cases in United States history involving judicial review....

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.

If you stop a student from expressing views that advocate drug use, are you violating their right to free speech? Use the 2007 Supreme Court case Morse v. Frederick to discuss a nuanced interpretation of the First Amendment. Learners...

Does a school's rule against band t-shirts violate the First Amendment's right to freedom of speech and expression? To gain a deeper understanding of the First Amendment and of protected and unprotected speech, class members play an...

Should the death penalty for juveniles be considered cruel and unusual punishment? After analyzing the various arguments surrounding this topic and reading several quotes offered by Supreme Court justices in 2005 on the issue, have your...

Does the Westboro Baptist Church have the protection of the Constitution when protesting military funerals? High schoolers examine the 2011 Supreme Court case of Snyder v. Phelps before comparing the situation to a fictional scenario of...

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...

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...