Supreme Court Research Project

This project is designed to illustrate how constitutional law lives today. You will be researching recent Supreme Court cases that have important constitutional issues related to criminal law. Here are the details:

PART ONE:

1) Go to this website to choose a case that was decided by the Supreme Court in the

2) Choose from one of the below listed five CRIMINAL cases from the 2017 Supreme Court term that deals with a CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE. Scroll down to the listed sitting month to find the cases to review.

• District of Columbia v. Wesby, No. 15-1485 (October sitting)
• Class v. U.S., No. 16-424 (October sitting)
• Carpenter v. U.S., No, 16-402 (December sitting)
• Collins v. Virginia, No. 16-1027 (January sitting)
• Dahda v. U.S., No. 17-43 (February sitting)

3) Once you have selected a case to do your research, answer the numbered questions.

A. Find the Petition for Writ of Certiorari for the case. (This is usually the first document filed.)

1. What was the QUESTION PRESENTED to the Court? (This is usually found on one of the first pages of the petition.)(Include a summary of the case.)

B. Listen to at least 30 minutes of the Oral Argument. (You will need to download the MP3 to do this.)

(If you have trouble with the audio, you can also read the transcript.)

2. Outline the arguments presented in the section you listened to. (Just make bullet points!)

C. Choose one amicus brief and answer the following three (3) questions:

2. Who filed the Amicus Brief?

3. Whose side does the Amicus Brief take?

4. How long was the Amicus Brief (pages)?

D. Look at the Supreme Courts opinion in your case.

5. What did the Court hold, and why? Explain in a well-written paragraph.

E. What about this case made you want to select it for review?

6. Describe what drew you to this case. Why did you select it over the other choices?

PART TWO:

Now, look at the case Mitchell v. Wisconsin before the Supreme Court in April 2019. (You will need to scroll down to the April sitting).

Do a little research on the case (from this website or any reliable website). Once you have done this, answer the following questions;

A. Explain how you would decide the case if you were sitting on the Supreme Court. Make sure you include the following in your well-written opinion:

1. What is the main issue?

2. What Constitution Issue does this case concern?

3. How would you rule, and what was the legal basis for your ruling?

Grammar and spelling do count. Please organize the project as it is outlined above. Sources must be cited and must be written in APA format.

Please contact me if you have questions.