Supreme Court Case Reflection

Supreme Court Case Reflection

This Supreme Court Case Reflection is brief – at least 400 but not more than 600 words – written double-spaced Times New Roman 12 point, one inch margins. It’s worth up to 30 points.

Your Reflection should be based on any court case from the following list. You should include, as with any assignment you ever do for any class, citations to any sources you consult. Use a standard MLA format Works Cited page. Ensure that I can easily navigate to any source you cite. I’m actually less worried about the technical detail of constructing proper citations than I am my ability easily – hopefully with one click – to access any source you use, assuming you use online sources. If you use other, non-online sources, be sure to use an appropriate citation.

Here are the court cases you may choose from:

Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah (1993)

Snyder v. Phelps (2010)

Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011)

Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans (2015)

Edwards v. Aguillard (1987)

Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002)

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

In your Reflection you should

a) Briefly (VERY! briefly. Not more than one short paragraph or you’ll lose credit.) describe the case in your own words. You may assume I’m familiar with the case and only need the briefest description as a reminder. If you spend a lot of time describing the detail of the case you will lose a lot of points. I know the story and this is not a book report. Move on to the following items!

b) Discuss why the case is important. Include political, social, cultural, etc. importance.

c) Discuss any subsequent developments that have resulted from the decision, if any.

d) Give your personal assessment of the decision.

It is critical that you remember not to simply cut and paste, or use too much of the actual wording of sources. Plagiarism is not acceptable, as you know. In an assignment like this, I have found that it is easy for students to use too many of the words of the source, without even realizing it. Be mindful so that you do not lose credit. One thing you can do is check the SafeAssignment upload after you have completed it. You will be able to see how much of your submission was flagged by SafeAssign. If you look and think there’s a problem, you can let me know and we can work it out so that you can submit it again, so long as it is before the due date.

Also remember that quoting long stretches from a source is not appropriate, even if you cite it correctly. In an assignment this short, (and this is VERY short) quoting more than a line or two is too much. This assignment is supposed to be your work. Not someone else’s.

The point of this assignment is for you to think deeply about the case and its significance to American law and society.

What does the case mean?

Why is it important?

What legal doctrine is at stake?

What in society was changed by the case?

What impact has it had since it was decided?

What other cases have cited it to support other decisions?

Do not necessarily try to answer all those questions. And do not necessarily limit yourself to only these questions. They are simply intended to give you a start on the kinds of things you should be thinking about.