June Civics Exploration The Supreme Court Directions: Use the links provided and your online research skills to answer the questions. Use left pointing arrow key, on your keyboard, to navigate back to this page. On a Mac - hold down the command key as you tap the left pointing arrow key. You will move back one webpage that you have viewed. Persist in doing this until you return to this hunt's webpage. Use the Control key with the left arrow key to do this on a PC.

Oyez Supreme Court media site. | United States Constitution | Supreme Court of the United States | CSPAN - Supreme Court
The Supreme Court Historical Society | Constitutional Interpretation @ USConstitution.net | Explore then Constitution

1. What is the U.S. Supreme Court?

2. Article III of the U.S. Constitution describes the Judiciary. What does it set out?

3. Describe how an individual becomes a Justice of the Supreme Court.

How is the Chief Justice selected?

4. Your class is going to observe the oral argument before the Supreme Court.

Describe the process by which a case ends up being decided by the Supreme Court.

Where will you be going to observe the case? Be precise.

5. One of the most famous Justices is John Marshall. Why do people regard him as important to the Court?

6. Some Justices are described as strict Constructionists and some are described as believing in a Living Constitution.

a. What do these terms mean?

b. Which way of looking at legal issues do you support? Why?

c. Place each of the current U.S. Supreme Court Justices in the column that describes their judicial philosophy.

7. What impact does the Supreme Court have on Presidential Elections?

8. Was this just? - The Dred Scott Case | Dred Scott Case Collection

9. Compare and contrast your state's highest court to the US Supreme Court. How many members are there?
How are they selected? How long do they serve? Are their decisions final? To whom do their decisions apply?

Challenge yourself:

1. The statue (at the top left of this page) is located on the west façade of the US Supreme Court Building. Do some digging.
What is the story of this work of art?

How is it germane to the Supreme Court?

2. Supreme Court Cases and the Constitution activity

3. Explore some Landmark Supreme Court Cases

4. Plan a Law Day activity for your community, school or class.

"The genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone,
but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs.” Justice William Brennan, Jr.

"It matters enormously to a successful democratic society like ours that we have three branches of government, each with some independence
and some control over the other two. That's set out in the Constitution." Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

"What distinguishes the rule of law from the dictatorship of a shifting Supreme Court majority,
is the absolutely indispensable requirement that judicial opinions be grounded in consistently applied principle.
That is what prevents judges from ruling now this way, now that—thumbs up or thumbs down—as their personal preferences dictate." Justice Antonin Scalia

"We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final." Justice Robert H. Jackson
On the Supreme Court; opinion concurring in judgement in Brown v. Allen, 344 U.S. 443, 540 (1953).

In honor of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has served our nation well, released to public domain.

Save a tree use a digital answer format - Highlight the text. Copy it. Paste it in a word processing document. Save the document in your folder. Answer on the wp document in a contrasting color (not yellow) or a different font (avoid , or other artistic fonts). Or perhaps you have the resources to record verbal answers. If you do, be sure to first read / record the question. Then record the answer immediately after it. Make your own printed answer format

Standards:

NCTE Standard 3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts.
NCTE Standard 8 - Students use a variety of technology and information resources to gather, synthesize, and communicate knowledge.
PA Academic Standards - History, Civics and Government, Science and Technology, Reading Writing.
ISTE Standard 3 - Technology productivity tools
ISTE Standard 5 - Technology research tools
Information Literacy Standards - Independent Learning
National Standards for Civics and Government