So What Does It All Mean

So What Does It All Mean? Interpreting the Constitution— The Supreme Court --Below is a list of cases that deal with the Supreme Court’s interpretation of a specific issue. With a partner, you will select TWO cases and produce a PowerPoint presentation FOR EACH CASE (4 slides per case) that explains the following: 1) [1st SLIDE] Title of the case AND year 2) [2nd SLIDE] What are the facts of the case? (2 points) 3) [3rd SLIDE] What is the important question that the Court addressed? (3 points) 4) [4th SLIDE] What was the Court’s conclusion in the case? What did they decide? (3 points) 5) [LAST SLIDE] Provide us with a single bulleted point that tells us what this decision means. (2 points) Example: “Miranda v. Arizona found that every person must be made aware of their legal rights upon arrest” 6) You will then present your findings to your classmates in class. (5 points) 7) Create a scenario for your classmates based on your case—see box below. (5 points) To assist you, go to: http://www.oyez.org (Unless otherwise noted below) Use the search box at the top of that page to find your case—type it in CAREFULLY. Oyez will help you figure out #1-3 above. You will have to provide an answer to #4 on your own.

ISSUE: First Amendment—Free Exercise Clause Freedom of BELIEFS vs. Freedom of ACTION Create a Scenario  Reynolds v. United States (1878) Upon the completion of your Flag-Salute Cases Powerpoint slide, write up a  Minersville School District v. Gobitis scenario based on your case. Do  West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette this as a MSWord document. Violations of Free Exercise? Try not to make it exactly like  Sherbert v. Verner your case, but similar enough  Wisconsin v. Yoder that the case law would apply. Not Violations of Free Exercise? This is worth 5 points (25% of  Goldman v. Weinberger your assignment) and it may be  Employment Division v. Smith (1989/1990, NOT 1988) used in the actual scenarios we  Church of the Lukumi Babalu v. City of Hialeah do in class.  Bob Jones University v. U. S.

Save your file name in THIS FORMAT: Yournames-Casenames (Example: Bargen-Caruso-Lemon-McCollum) Upload your Powerpoint/Word files to Docushare: look for the “GOPO—Bargen” folder, then select the correct subfolder. AMENDMENT 1: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”