Teacher Resources: Lesson Plan

The Court Defines Itself

Overview

This lesson can be used for giving students an overall understanding of the role of the Supreme Court during the years directly following its inception. It explores a variety of resources including external web sites that have been evaluated by teachers for their resource value. Appropriate for high school junior and senior students, the lesson's goal is to allow the student a well-rounded study of the court and how the early justices helped define the role of the court today.

National Curriculum Standards met by this lesson

For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.

Ties to What You Already Teach

This lesson ties into United States Government/Civics when studying:

Time Required

Depending on depth and breadth of student research, anywhere from one to two weeks.

Materials Needed

The Lesson

Anticipatory Set

  1. Class discussion: Ask students why they think the Supreme Court exists. Why would the founding fathers have thought that a court would be necessary?
  2. Give students a copy of The Court Defines Itself Essay by John Moore or have them access it on a computer. Read this overview to them to help students understand the historical perspective in which the court was established. (Explain that the Marbury v. Madison case involved giving the court the authority to override federal legislative action.) Explain to students that the role of the court was not specifically defined in the Constitution. Congress was left with the responsibility of deciding how many members should be on the court, and could create additional judgeships whenever it deemed it necessary. Most importantly, though, was the fact that the Constitution doesn't address the nature of the court's power even when a case falls within its jurisdiction. The Judiciary Act of 1789 would clear up some of these issues, but the early justices themselves were left to define much of the role of the court. The influence of those early justices continues to be evident in the court today.

Procedures

  1. Explain to students that there were numerous justices between the years of 1787-1803. From the following list, have students choose one justice they would like to learn more about.

    2. Chief Justices

    John Jay James Wilson

    John Rutledge John Blair, Jr.

    Oliver Ellsworth Thomas Johnson

    John Marshall Samuel Chase

    Associate Justices

  2. Alfred Moore
  3. William Cushing
  4. James Iredell
  5. William Paterson
  6. Bushrod Washington
  • If students are having difficulties making a choice, you could help by showing them encyclopedias or other resources such as the book The Supreme Court Justices, Illustrated Biographies 1789-1993 to give them more information.
  • Tell students they will be writing a biographical essay on their justice. They should look for sources in their library or use the following websites to do their research.
    1. As they research their justice, they should be looking for the answers to the following points:
      • A brief introduction to the justice including their place and date of birth and personal life
      • Information about their life before becoming a justice (Did he receive a formal education and what occupation did he have.)
      • Skills this person had that made him a qualified candidate for the Supreme Court?
      • Historical or political perspective this justice brought to the Court? Include anything pertinent that might have guided decisions made by this justice and shaped the court.
      • Include any major cases in which this justice's opinion was critical to the outcome of the case.
      • The legacy this justice left on the Court? How did they influence the role of the Court then and today.
    2. Each one of these points should be written on a note card. When students find information regarding that point, they should record it on the appropriate card.
    3. Once students have completed their research, they are to compile their information into a biographical essay. By keeping their note cards in order, their paper would have a sequential, organized order. (If time allows, teachers may want to have students read their papers to the class to allow everyone to benefit from the completed research.)

    Assessment

    Teachers can use the following rubric to grade the biographical essays.

    Grading Element/Total Points Excellent
    (10)    		 Good
    (9-8)    		 Fair
    (7-6)    		 Not Satisfactory
    (5-1)    		 No Work
    (0)
    Research

    There is an abundance of information about the topic.

    Points are clearly made and are logical.

    All evidence supports the points made.

    Contains no factual errors.

    There is a considerable amount of information about the topic.

    Points are not as clear or logical.

    Most evidence supports the points made.

    Contains no factual errors.

    Locates and uses general information from a limited number of sources.

    Points are not easy to follow or logical.

    Weakly assesses the points posed for the paper.

    May contain some factual errors.

    Shows weak research, with incomplete or unbalanced topic coverage.

    Demonstrates little effort to assess the points posed for the paper.

    May contain factual errors.

    If a student falls into this category, and they gave this assignment a reasonable amount of effort, conference with the student and allow them to redo either both their research or their paper. Set up a time to do this privately.

    No research.

     

    Biographical Essay

    A well-balanced, organized and thorough paper.

    Addresses all of the questions posed for the paper with a high degree of clarity.

    Error-free spelling and grammar.

    Conclusions, predictions, and connections were made with a high degree of logic.

     

    A generally balanced, organized, and complete paper.

    Addresses most of the questions posed for the paper with a considerable amount of clarity.

    Few Spelling and grammatical errors.

    Conclusions, predictions, and connections were made with considerable logic.

    A somewhat balanced, organized paper.

    Addresses some of the questions posed for the paper with some clarity.

    Several spelling and grammatical errors.

    Conclusions, predictions, and connections were made with some logic.

    Paper is not balanced, complete, or organized.

    Addresses few of the questions posed for the paper with little clarity.

    Numerous spelling and grammatical errors.

    Conclusions, predictions, and connections were made with little logic.

    No paper.

     

    Related Works

    A "Representative" Supreme Court?: The Impact of Race, Religion, and Gender on Appointments by Barbara A. Perry

    A People's History of the Supreme Court by Peter Irons

    Early History of the Federal Supreme Court: by W. H. Muller by W. H. Muller

    Interdisciplinary Links

    This lesson could be used to link to the following curricula: