Name:______
Supreme Court Cases
The Great Debate Project
Point Value: 50
Partner: ______Case: ______
Presentations Day/Date:______
You and a partner will pick one of the Supreme Court cases from the master list and debate it in class. One person will represent the prosecution (plaintiff side) of the argument while their partner will represent the defense (defendant side).
As an individual you will be graded on the following:
1) Demonstration of a thorough understanding of the court case: you must submit a minimum of 2 on-line resources from which you have gathered your information. This should be at the end of your written summary. You need to have the full internet address.
2) Preparation on your scheduled presentation day: you must be ready to debate and to submit your summary and sources.
3) Mature debating/argument skills that show critical thinking: you must have a total of THREE questions to ask your opponent. We suggest that 2 questions made BEFORE the debate and one be made DURING the debate.
4) A one page typed writing piece that includes your opening argument, body, and closing argument and the 3 questions.
The flow of each debate will look like this:
a. Prosecution side presents their opening statement
b. Defense side presents their opening statement
c. Prosecution side presents the body of their argument
d. Defense side present the body of their argument
e. *Both sides will ask 3 questions to each other* - Very critical and very crucial to your grade
f. Prosecution side presents their closing statement
g. Defense side presents their closing statement
Remember: “Prosecution” is plaintiff, “Defense” is the defendant.
Example – US v. Virginia: US for integration of girls at VMI = “Plaintiff/Prosecution”; Virginia against Girls going to VMI = “Defense/Defendant”.)
RESOURCES (must use minimum of 2 sources!). * When printing information from these sites, please keep it under 3 pages OR save the work to a flash drive.
Oyez.org
http://www.infoplease.com/us/supreme-court/cases/
http://supcourt.ntis.gov/
Billofrightsinstitute.org
Streetlaw.org
Supcourt.ntis.gov
Casebriefs.com
Civilrights.org
You may use Wikipedia but remember you need an additional source!