NC Courts 71-72

Week (12): Do NowThursday• Who decides how land will be used in the

county?• Which type of mayor can appoint department

heads without approval of the city council?• In a _______________ system the town has a

town council which appoints a town _____________.

(Friday)• __________________ is the power of the court to declare acts of

the other 2 branches unconstitutional.• Which type of cases, when appealed from the superior court go

directly to the NC Supreme Court?• What is the lowest level of the NC court system?

CE Notes 71-72

Objectives

• SWBAT explain the North Carolina Court System

• SWBAT analyze the impact of NC Supreme Court Cases on the people of North Carolina

REVIEW

• What is the highest court in America?

• What is the highest court in North Carolina?

RAP 71

• What is Judicial Review?

• What did the court decide in Plessy v. Ferguson?

• Then what did the US Supreme court decide in Brown v. Board of Education

Notes 71• Judicial Branch (NC Article IV):

• State Supreme Court (7 elected justices, serve 8 yr terms): power of judicial review.

• Court of Appeals (15 Judges)• Superior Court (46 districts)• District Court (39 county)

• Every case must work its way up the court system

• EXCEPT: Death Penalty “Capital Punishment” cases go directly from Superior to Supreme Court.

NC NC Supreme Supreme

CourtCourt

Court of Appeals

Superior Court

District (County) Court

Where do I go?Supreme Court

Court of Appeals

Superior Court

District (County) Court

1. You were charged with assault. Where do you go for trial?

2. You were found guilty of assault. Later you find out a witness lied in your case and you want to appeal your guilty verdict. Where do you go?

3. You are found guilty again. This time you say evidence was admitted into the trial that the police never had a warrant for. You appeal again. Where do you go?

Where do I go?Supreme Court

Court of Appeals

Superior Court

District (County) Court

1. Michael is charged with 1st degree murder. He is found guilty in superior court.

2. Michael maintains that his confession to the crime was obtained illegally because the police did not read him his rights. He wants to appeal his guilty verdict. Where does Michael go?

• NO Ex Post Facto Laws: can’t make a new law apply to an action that was not a crime before the law.

• Latin for “After the fact”

Please add to Notes:Please add to Notes:

MSL Review

1. 1. Which best completes the diagram?A. County Commissioners Court

B. District Court

C. NC Court of Appeals

D. Magistrate Court

Supreme Court

?????

Superior Court

District (County) Court

NOTES 71

NC Supreme Court Cases: When the NC Supreme court makes a decision it becomes the law in the state of North Carolina.

-->NOTE: The US Supreme Court can still reverse NC’s Supreme Court Decisions and declare parts of the NC Constitution to be unconstitutional.

Notes 71

• State vs. Mann (1829): Determined that slaves are property. Slave owner’s (John Mann) assault conviction overturned because slaves were NOT citizens.

MSL Practice

1. Which court case from 1829 helped illustrate that the North Carolina Constitution is the supreme law of the state?

A. Leandro v. State of NC

B. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg

C. State v. Mann

D. Brown v. Board of Education

Leandro v. North Carolina Leandro v. North Carolina (1997):(1997):

– Parents in poor counties sue about unequal educational opportunities

– The parents win unanimously!– NC Supreme Court said: All NC

children have a constitutional right to the “equal opportunity to receive a sound basic education.”

• Article IX (9) of the NC Constitution

Leandro’sLeandro’s Impact Impact

• IMPACT:– Funding for schools should be equally distributed– 2002 Judge Manning decided the problems in poor

school districts were bigger than just money.• He mandated that the state (Governor and General Assembly)

take responsibility for improving the poor school districts. This meant…

– More qualified teachers, more EOCs/EOGs, Only a level 3/4 is passing, better school administrators, $ for at risk students, $ for pre-school/kindergarten programs, more money to poor school districts to supplement property tax.

Halifax faces state takeover for not Halifax faces state takeover for not meeting Leandro goals.meeting Leandro goals.

What Happened to Halifax?What Happened to Halifax?

• HALIFAX — Halifax County Schools face an April 29 court hearing to decide who should will run the school district in the best interest of the children.

• The district received notice of the hearing yesterday in a fax from Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard E. Manning Jr. It is Manning who ruled in the original landmark Leandro decision and has overseen the implementation of school improvements in many parts of North Carolina.

• The letter went on to say the hearing will “focus on what measures the State of North Carolina intends to take to remedy the constitutional violation of Halifax County Public Schools failing to provide children with the equal opportunity to obtain a sound basic education.”

• “the reading EOG results in Halifax County can be described as nothing less than academic disaster,” the document says, with 71.3 percent of elementary students and 74.3 percent of middle school students not proficient in reading.

PIT 72

1. Complete the Court System questions on page 72.

2. Then, using the Leandro case as an example, what is the impact on the decisions of the NC Supreme Court decisions on the people of NC and on the NC Government?

– a. Impact on NC citizens:

– b. Impact on NC Government:

MSL Practice

Judging by the needs of the 21st century, which fact about the North Carolina Supreme Court is the most important?

a. Its power to overturn lower court casesb. Its decision in Leandro v. NCc. Its decision in State v. Mannd. The fact that it has 7 justices

MSL Practice

What is the most important similarity between the Mann and Leandro cases?

a. Race was a part of both cases

b. Both were handled by the NC Supreme Court

c. Both are landmark NC Cases

d. One decision overruled the lower court and one upheld the lower court.

It’s your turn to gradeLouisburg High School!

• Complete: “A Leandro Report Card for LHS”1. Read each of the 8 requirements.

2. Read the questions for each requirement

3. Answer each question in the “My Explanation box” below the questions.

4. Give a grade for each requirement

5. Give your school a final grade.

LHS 2007-2008 EOC Results

Class % passingAlgebra 1 * 66.3%

Algebra 2 47%

Biology * 51.5%

Chemistry 79.7%

Civics & Economics* 69.6%

English 1* 65.1%

Geometry* 64.1%

Physical Science 76.2%

US History* 41.3%

LHS Overall 60.4% of students passed EOCs.

* = Level 3/4 required for graduation in class