Teacher Resources: Lesson Plan
From Classroom to Courtroom: The Childhood of Supreme Court Justices
Overview
Given the age of many justices of the Supreme Court--who current Justice John Paul Stevens acknowledged are "at least two generations" out of touch with young people (Bethel School District v. Fraser, 1986)--students have a particularly difficult time relating to the nine figures on the bench. In this lesson, students will conduct biographical research to learn about the childhood of a justice of the Supreme Court. Students will begin by looking at a picture of the current members of the Supreme Court and brainstorming a list of issues which concern young people, but of which older people don't seem to be aware. Then, students will select a justice of the Supreme Court (current or past) and research to learn about the justice's childhood, from birth to the age of twenty-one. As a culminating activity, pupils will transform their research notes into a "scrapbook," share their scrapbooks with the class, and then discuss if the Supreme Court justices really are as out-of-touch with children's issues as they may have thought.
National Curriculum Standards met by this lesson
For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.
Ties to your Curriculum
This lesson ties into Civics/U.S. Government when studying:
- The Constitution, Article III, the Judicial Branch
- The Supreme Court
- Rights and responsibilities of citizenship
Time required
The lesson will take approximately two class periods if research is done outside of class.
Materials
- The U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 1
- Guideposts for Thinking and Discussion: The Supreme Court and Young People and/or Essay, The Supreme Court and the Lives of Young People
- Photograph of current Supreme Court justices (link to http://historyofsupremecourt.org/history/today/opener.htm)
- Blank Documents for Scrapbook (optional, at end of lesson)
The Lesson
Anticipatory Set
- Show students a photograph of the current members of the Supreme Court. Ask the class to come to a consensus on a) the age of each and b) if the justice is of the generation of their parents, grandparents, or older.
- Ask students to read the U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 1 to determine if there are any age limits on justices of the Supreme Court.
- Have pupils brainstorm a list of legal issues which concern young people, but which older people don't seem to know about. Record the list and keep it posted.
Procedures
- Explain to pupils that they will be investigating the childhood of a past or current justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Direct students to select a justice and to take notes to learn about the selected justice's childhood, from birth up to the time the justice-to-be turned twenty-one. Pupils need to collect bibliographic information from sources used for use in a standard bibliography.
- Explain to students that they will be transforming their biographical notes into a "scrapbook." Each scrapbook should contain, at a minimum a:
- Cover page with the name and a color picture of the future justice (either a drawing by the student drawn by the student, one copied and colored in, or a color print-out from a computer), along with the student's name
- Birth certificate with the full name of the baby justice-to-be, the name of the mother and father, the date and place of birth
- Family tree showing the names of the mother, father, brothers and sisters (if any), and other family information about the future justice
- Report card from one of the schools the future justice attended (Use the sports or hobbies of the individual to make an educated guess about what kind of student they might have been in P.E., art or music, and English. Work experience may suggest the kind of math student they were. Follow your hunch for science!)
- Diary entry "written" by the justice about some event in their childhood--this may be as diverse as life in a log cabin with fourteen younger siblings (John Marshall), being wounded in battle (Oliver Wendell Holmes), the death of a sister (Ruth Bader-Ginsburg) or the fire which destroyed a home (Clarence Thomas)
- A standard bibliography of sources conforming to the preferred format of the school district (MLA, Turabian, etc.)
Students may create their own documents or use the blank birth certificate, family tree, and report card which follow this lesson.
- Students will share their scrapbooks with classmates, either as a brief oral presentation, or through jig-sawed learning stations. When all students have had an opportunity to look at the scrapbooks, refer back to the list of issues the students had brainstormed. Discuss as a class whether the Supreme Court justices really are out of touch with young people's issues.
Assessment
The students' scrapbook may be evaluated on a twenty-point scale (which may be multiplied by five to convert to 100-point scale or for conversion to letter grades) using the following rubric:
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Excellent |
Good |
Fair |
Poor |
No Work |
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Historical Research 5 points |
(5) Written assignment
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(4) Written assignment
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(3-2) Written assignment
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(1) Written assignment
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0 |
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Writing Skills 10 points |
(10) Scrapbook's "documents" are
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(9-8) Scrapbook's "documents" are
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(7-6) Scrapbook's "documents" are
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(5-1) Scrapbook's "documents" are
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0 |
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Felicity of Presentation 5 points |
(5) Assignment has
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(4) Assignment has
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(3-2) Assignment has
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(1) Assignment
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0 |
Related Works
Teachers and students may locate photographs of members of the Court and biographical information at many sites including:
- The U.S. Supreme Court Website at www.supremecourtus.gov/about/biographiescurrent.pdf
- Oyez, the U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia website at:
http://www.oyez.org/oyez/portlet/justices/ - Cornell University's Legal Information Institute at:
http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/justices/fullcourt.html
Justice John Marshall's early life is described at the John Marshall House website at:
http://www.apva.org/marshall/justice/more_history.php
The life of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was dramatized in Emmet Lavery's play and 1950 movie, The Magnificent Yankee. For more information see:
http://harvardregiment.org/holmes.html
Justice Thurgood Marshall is featured in Rae Bain's book Thurgood Marshall: Fight for Justice (Easy Biographies). Wikipedia explains why he had originally been named "Thoroughgood" at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurgood_Marshall
Interdisciplinary Links
Civics: Students may write a letter to a current justice of the Supreme Court about any legal issue on which they have an opinion. Students should find the address and proper salutation for the Chief Justice or Associate Justices. The letter should be in formal format, with no capitalization, punctuation, spelling, or grammatical errors. Letters should be polite and concise.
Language Arts: Direct pupils to use the story of the childhood of a Supreme Court justice as the basis for a creative writing project such as:
- a bio-poem or poem in the voice of the young future justice
- a skit (which may conform to the individual or group performance standards for History Day, see:
http://nationalhistoryday.org/02_contest/02.html--and--
http://nationalhistoryday.org/02_contest/frameb_02_c11.html - an imaginary interview with the justice about their childhood
Report Card
Name of School and School Year
Student Name:
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Fourth marking period |
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Writing |
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Reading |
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Speaking |
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Mathematics |
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Sciences or Foreign Language |
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Art, Music, or Performance |
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Physical Education |