The goal of this assignment is to find a case that has been decided by the Supreme
Question:
The goal of this assignment is to find a case that has been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States or the Supreme Court of California from within the past 5 years, then summarize the judicial opinion in the form of a case brief (see examples above and more information below). Please do not attempt to create a case brief only from a review of an article--please review the actual opinion for the case from the Supreme Court (see below for how to find these opinions). Also, please do not select a case that did not produce a substantive opinion from the Supreme Court (e.g., do not select a case that is pending a decision from the Supreme Court or a case that the Supreme Court dismissed (nor a case where the petition for a writ of certiorari was "denied" or decided to have been "improvidently granted", and not a "case pending")--there must be a substantive opinion (usually of at least a couple of pages and certainly not only a couple of sentences) to summarize briefly in the 1-2 page case brief. Multiple case briefs are typically created in law school each week in order to quickly recall essential information from an opinion to discuss in class, which is why they should be as concise as possible.
This website should help you find a case from the US Supreme Court according to issues of interest to you: https://www.oyez.org/issuesLinks to an external site. For example, if interested in affirmative action cases, you can see a list of such cases at https://www.oyez.org/issues/155Links to an external site. . From that list, one would usually look for a case decided by the US Supreme Court within the last 5 years; however, if the most recent case on that topic was not from within the last five years, such as Fisher v. University of Texas (see https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981Links to an external site.), then an older case may be selected if the rationale for selecting an older case is explained in the case brief. From that Oyez webpage for the Fisher case, you can access the opinion of the case at https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-981_4g15.pdfLinks to an external site. or at https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/579/14-981/#tab-opinion-3589817Links to an external site. to summarize in your case brief (and you can also check your understanding with the summary of the case on the Oyez webpage).
If you utilize a source in your case brief other than the actual opinion of the case, such as using a website like Oyez, then please cite it using any standard citation format (e.g., MLA, APA, University of Chicago, Bluebook) and include a works cited page (and put any direct quotes from it in quotation marks). The works cited page, if needed, does not count toward the page limits. That said, there is no need to utilize any source other than the actual Supreme Court opinion analyzed for the case. Other than quotation marks for any direct quotes, there is no need to cite the actual opinion for the case (only other sources, if any). Thus, a paraphrase from the actual opinion would not need to be cited.
Complete the following course project, which consists of researching a case and writing a critical case brief after reading and analyzing the judicial opinion associated with the case.
- Research one case that the U.S. Supreme Court or the California Supreme Court (not a trial court or an intermediate court of appeal or a court in another state/country) has written a decision on (preferably within the last 5 years, although older cases may be selected if of a particular interest, which must be explained in the case brief)
- For more information on writing a student case brief, please review this website: https://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/how-to/brief-a-caseLinks to an external site..
- The case brief should have a case citation (parties involved and year of decision), brief facts (only the most important facts that the court relied on), issue(s) (the question(s) to be resolved by the court), holding/rule of law (the precedent established by the case, which is the court's answer(s) to the issue(s)), reasoning/rationale (why the court ruled as it did), other opinions (e.g., dissent and/or concurring opinions, if any), and your own brief analysis (e.g., why you agree with the court or not).
- Thus, answer the following questions while preparing a case brief:
- Case: What was the name of the case? Please include a link to the case opinion online (a URLLinks to an external site.) and the year of the case as well. Do not select "pending" cases or cases that were determined to be moot, automatic death penalty appeals, or any case that did not produce a substantive opinion that can be analyzed in each of the categories below (e.g., not a case that is still pending a decision by the Supreme Court). If a case is too difficult to understand, select a different case--there are many cases to choose from and there are several that are very approachable with the knowledge gained in this course.
- Parties: Who were the parties?
- Facts: Briefly discuss the type of case it is (e.g., civil, criminal) and what the facts of the case were that were relied upon in the decision made by the Court (the dispositive facts only). This should not be the bulk of a case brief, and there will be plenty of unimportant facts left out. Make sure that the facts included are important to understand why the court held as it did, which will help compare this case to other cases (an important skill in our common law system of precedence under the doctrine of stare decisis).
- Issue: What was the issue or issues to be decided by the court? This is best phrased as a question or questions that the Court answered. If the Court did not answer a legal question, such as when the Court chooses not to accept the case, then it is not a good case to choose to brief!
- Holding/Reasoning & Rationale: What was the holding (the decision of the court that answered the issue(s)) and what was the court's rationale or reasoning for the holding? What rules of law were mentioned?
- Other Opinions: Were there any dissenting or concurring opinions of note? If so, summarize.
- Analysis: Do you agree with the majority opinion or any dissenting or concurring opinion? Why or why not?
- Discussion: Why did you select this case? Why do you think the Court chose to hear this particular case that you chose, given the large number of writs of certiorari the Court receives each term?
- Every year the court has a large number of writs of certiorari received each term. Remember, neither the California nor the U.S. Supreme Court has to hear every case brought before it. Having a case decided by these courts is a privilege, not a right.
- Properly cite all sources and place any direct quotes in quotation marks.
- Use headings to designate the applicable areas of the case brief (e.g., (e.g., "Facts," "Issue," "Holding," "Reasoning/Rationale," "Analysis," "Discussion"). Additionally, here is a video walking you through how to write a case brief (the case brief discussed in this case uses slightly different headings but the same basic principles apply with regard to reading a case with writing a case brief in mind.
Legal Research Analysis and Writing
ISBN: 978-1305948372
4th edition
Authors: William H. Putman, Jennifer Albright