Law Day in the High Schools 2014

Law Day in the High Schools 2014: “Why Every Vote Counts”

Lesson Plan for Visiting Attorney and Teacher

1. Preparation for Lesson prior to school visit. Download and review student Handouts and Power Points from the web site at www.delrec.org. The Link is on the Home Page. Make copies of Handouts. Coordinate visit with teacher using e-mail sent by DELREC. The classroom teacher can help place students in small groups for Student Handout II and Handout III: the Case Study activity

2. In-Class Procedure for Day of Visit A. Introduction to the ABA Theme for Law Day: (1.) Show Power Point Slide #1. Review the Law Day Theme as described by the American Bar Association. Ask students to note the drawing of a former slave voting for the first time. It was drawn by A.R. Ward to celebrate passage of the 15th Amendment.

(2.) Power Point Slide #2 shows the expansion of who was eligible to vote over the years. It also points out that voter registration procedures are controlled by each of the 50 states and are different in each state.

B. Focus Question for Class Discussion: (1.) Show Power Point Slide #3. Read the Question and the quotation from the American History Textbook. This textbook was widely used in High Schools in the 1990’s. Ask students to think about why registration rules might be different in Delaware, New York, Mississippi and Texas. (May talk about size of states, differences in population, history of the state etc.)

(2.) Show Power Point Slide 4. Explain the act was passed nearly 50 years ago and had a profound effect on the United States. Review all the different areas of life covered by the law: You may want to give some examples from your own experiences. (3.) Show Power point Slide #5 and discuss how difficult it was to pass the Act. Note the way both parties had to cooperate to get the bill passed. Explain how a filibuster was used by Congress to stop passage of a bill.

C. Give students copies of Handout I: The Voting Rights Act of 1965: Have students work in pairs with one other student.

(1.) Ask the pairs to read the handout and to list four (4) things that the Act changed. Give them about 5 minutes to review the Handout and complete the list.

(2.) Show Power Point Slide #6. Ask one student to read paragraph one and another to read paragraph two on the slide. Review the four points about the Act. Ask why it was challenged and what its impact was. (Note: the paragraphs on the slide are the first two paragraphs in Handout I.)

D. Join two pairs together to form a Small Group. Give each student a copy of Student Handout II and Student Handout III: Felony Disenfranchisement; A Case Study. This is a case study of the Supreme Court decision in Hunter v Underwood.

(1.) Ask the students to read the excerpts from Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow and answer the two questions. Ask different groups to give you their answers. Ask other groups if they agree. (You might note that the United States has the “highest rate of incarceration of any industrialized nation”. (Street Law Eighth Edition, pg.77)

(2.) Show Power Point Slide #7. Discuss the definition of “Moral Turpitude”, (3.) Each group should read the description of the case in Student Handout III and be prepared to answer the three Review Questions. Ask groups to present their answers to each question.

(4.) Show Power Point Slide 8. Have a student read the Final Review Question. Ask the class for their opinion on the Question.

E. Closing Activity: Explain that last year; the Delaware Legislature removed the requirement that former felons wait five years before regaining the right to vote.

(1.) Show Power Point Slide 9, which explains how Delaware amends it’s Constitution. Note we are the only state that allows the Legislature to do this without a vote of the people.

(2.) Ask students to look at Student Handout IV. This is a copy of the actual Bill. Note the Title of the Bill and Section 1. It changes the law by removing the words “five years”. Show Power Point 10. Review the Synopsis and explain who Hazel D. Plant was. Ask the students way the Bill might have been named for her.

(3.) Show Power Point 11. Ask a student to read each of the quotes. Ask the class why they think being able to vote is important.