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...

Students 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...

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...

Students investigate some basic facts about the Supreme Court by examining the United States Constitution and one of the landmark cases decided by that court. The operation of the Supreme Court forms the focus of the lesson.

Students examine the historical background of Supreme Court decisions and the basic principles behind legislation. As part of the lesson, students discover legal concepts and terms and write sentences using the vocabulary they have...

Have an engaging class discussion on the Bill of Rights, U.S. Constitution, and the Supreme Court. Learners examine multiple aspects of the Marbury v. Madison case and the impact that case had on the judicial system in the U.S. Web...

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...

Students choose one of the Supreme Court justices and research their life as a child from birth to age 21. They identify a list of topics that related specifically to youth that this judge may have a vested interest in.

Just how does a case come before the highest court in the land? A graphic flow chart unpacks how plaintiffs come before the Supreme Court. Graphics include background on the nine justices and just how many cases they actually hear each...

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...

Learners learn basic facts about the Supreme Court by examining the United States Constitution and one of the landmark cases decided by that court.

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....

Travel back in time to understand the effects of FDR's New Deal on the Supreme Court. Academics analyze historical documents to understand FDR's attempts to pack the Supreme Court and the opposition he faced. The activity includes a...

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...

While Roe v. Wade and the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment often get top billing in women's history, other lesser-known laws impact their daily lives. Pupils research cases such as Planned Parenthood v. Casey and use a jigsaw model to...

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...

Imagine being an ex-slave after the Civil War and not understanding if you were considered a citizen of the United States. Scholars analyze the early Supreme Court battles in civil rights cases and especially the Fourteenth Amendment....

Consider five Supreme Court cases and how their outcomes have directly affected the American population. Government students research and compose a 1-2 page pager outlining the examples of our daily life that have specifically been...

What does freedom of religion mean? Analyze a series of Supreme Court cases where the First Amendment right to freedom of religion was put to the test. They discuss the cases' outcomes and argue whether the right decision was made....

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...

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...

Learners react to a series of statements about the Supreme Court, then read a news article about the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts. In this current events instructional activity, the teacher introduces the article with a...

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...

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...