american government modified amicus brief assignment...

American Government Modified Amicus Brief Assignment

Materials:

Amicus Brief packet provided by teacher Case Briefs for the following three Supreme Court cases from www.casebriefs.com

o Strickland v. Washington o Brady v. Maryland o Batson v. Kentucky

American Government textbook Graphic Organizers for modified assignment Amicus Brief Organizer for modified assignment

Amount of Time Needed to Complete Assignment: 2-3 45 minute class periods

Assignment Description:

For this assignment, students were instructed to look over the following packet of documents and

write a detailed amicus brief for the Dexter case that is about to go before the United States Supreme

Court. Students were to determine whether they were in favor of the respondent or petitioner and

state their reasoning for their position using references to the evidence, constitutional articles,

amendments, and Supreme Court precedents. The last page of the packet gives a detailed

explanation as to what information needed to be in the amicus brief and in what order the

information should appear.

Modifications Description:

When I modified this assignment I created the two charts below to help the students

organize the information and their thoughts as we went through the materials. I also collected the

additional information about the Supreme Court cases that they would need to use as references in

the amicus brief. The students used the amicus brief packet, case briefs, and their textbook to

gather the information needed to complete the assignment. I worked with the students to go

through each piece of information to help them keep their thoughts focused and organized. Finally,

I provided an amicus brief template for the students to complete for their final written work.

The first graphic organizer was created to help the students define the three amendments

and Supreme Court cases that were pertinent to the amicus brief. The first column provides the

name of the amendment/Supreme Court case. In the second column the student is to describe or

define the amendment/Supreme Court case. In the third column the student is to write how the

amendment/Supreme Court case applies to the Dexter case.

The second graphic organizer looked at the various pieces of evidence that is provided from

the Dexter case. This graphic organizer has two columns for the students to consider. If the

students believe that the evidence shows that Dexter’s rights were upheld, they must provide that

information in the first of the two columns. If they believe that the evidence shows that Dexter’s

rights were not upheld, they must provide that information in the second of the two columns. This

helped the students visualize if they were leaning in favor or against Dexter’s rights being upheld.

Once the students have completed both graphic organizers, I asked them to look over the

information that they have collected and to state which side they were in favor of. If they had some

difficulty coming to a conclusion, then we looked over the graphic organizers again to help them

come to a conclusion. The students were then given the amicus brief template to complete. The

template goes through each paragraph of the amicus brief and gives the student a brief description

of what information should be included in the paragraph and how long the paragraph should be.

Once the students completed the template, the general education government teacher said that they

could turn it in for their final grade along with their graphic organizers. Students could also use the

template as a rough draft for typing up a final draft if the general education teacher preferred to

have a typed final draft.

Amicus Brief Packet Page 1

Supreme Court Case Brief Page 1

Supreme Court Case Briefs Page 2

Amendments Describe/Define How applies to Dexter Case

4th Amendment

5th Amendment

6th Amendment

Supreme Court Cases

Brady v. Maryland

Strickland v. Washington

Batson v. Kentucky

Government -- Amicus Brief Assignment

Graphic Organizer Page 1

Evidence That Dexter's Rights Were Upheld Evidence That Dexter's Rights Were Not Upheld

Exhibit A

Document 1

Exhibit A

Document 2

Exhibit B

Document 1

Exhibit B

Document 2

Exhibit C

Document 1

Exhibit C

Document 2

Graphic Organizer Page 2

In The Supreme Court of the United States

Dexter (Petitioner) v.

Michigan State Prosecutor (Respondent)

On Writ of Certiorari

To the Supreme Court of the United States

BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE OF THE

Criminal Bar Association

In Support of (respondent or petitioner)

Paragraph 1: A position statement of at least THREE SENTENCES in which you take a stance on this

question: Were the rights of Dwight Dexter upheld in the criminal justice system?

Paragraph 2: One-paragraph argument that supports your position statement. It should begin with a clear topic

sentence and incorporate evidence (facts, examples, or quotations) that support your topic sentence. The

paragraph should be at least FIVE SENTENCES and should reference at least one Constitutional amendment

that supports your argument.

Amicus Brief Template



paragraph should be at least FIVE SENTENCES and should reference at least one Constitutional amendment

that supports your argument.



paragraph should be at least FIVE SENTENCES and should reference at least one Supreme Court precedent

(case) that supports your argument.

Paragraph 5: Write a conclusion of at least THREE SENTENCES in which you restate your position and

restate your most important points.

Respectfully submitted,

(your name)

Attorney at Law, Criminal Bar Association

american government modified amicus brief assignment...

Documents