CECsst.238


TITLE:  DEBATES ON IMPORTANT COURT CASES

AUTHOR:  Donnalee Eisenhart, Mountain View High School;
         Orem, Utah

GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT:  9-12  Law Education, U.S. History

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
This assignment was given to a United States Honors History
class.  It could easily be adapted to Sociology or other
Social Science curriculum.  Each student is assigned (we
pick them out of a hat) one of the following court cases.
They are then required to research their assigned position
on that case.  After each student is given a case, along
with a person that will oppose their position, they are then
assigned a day to debate their case.  Using parliamentary
procedure, the entire class will debate each case.

During each debate the class will be divided, into three
groups, by the volunteer chairman assigned to each case.
The first group will be required to take the position of the
first debater, the second group required to take the
position of the second debater and the third group will
remain neutral.  The neutral group will listen, openly, to
each debater and make a decision according to the facts and
opinions that have been shared.  At the conclusion of each
debate, a vote will be taken to see which side won the
debate.  Occasionally, there are cases left over, they are
given out to volunteer students that want additional
participation bucks.

Those students assigned to that court case will be graded
according to their ability to give proper credence to the
position assigned, they may receive up to 100 points for
their efforts.  By the end of the quarter each student will
have had their cases heard.  Those students wishing to give
secondary debate, those asking pertinent questions, and
those taking an active roll in each case, will be awarded
(by the volunteer chairman of each case) participation bucks
(each buck is given a certain point value to it) that can be
put toward their required participation points at the end of
each quarter.  I require approximately 400-500 points worth
of participation each quarter.

The following are cases that have been debated in class.
Obviously there are numerous cases that can be added to the
list.

Marbury v. Madison
Gibbons v. Ogden
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Schenck v. United States
Plessy v. Ferguson
Brown v. Board of Education
Miranda v. Arizona
Dartmouth College v. Woodward
Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge
Gideon v. Wainwright
Engel v. Vitale
Korematsu v. United States
New York v. United States
McCulloch v. Maryland
Morgan v. Virginia
Munn v. Illinois
Reynolds v. Sims
Roe v. Wade
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education