How the Supreme Court Works

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READING: 441-477 in Edwards

UNIT TWO IDENTIFICATION TERMS
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Today's Essential Question: How do cases reach the Supreme Court and how are judicial decisions made?

Learning Standards:
CON-5.B.1: Precedents and stare decisis play an important role in judicial decision making.


How the Supreme Court Works
What happens at the Supreme Court? Today we are going to take a look behind the curtain and see how SCOTUS operates.

Here are a few key questions:

• How does a case reach the Supreme Court?
• What happens once a case is accepted?
• What are oral arguments like?
• What are the different types of opinions that the Court issues?

These are just a few of the questions we are going to try and answer today as we look at how the Supreme Court works.

Key Terms: writ of certiorari, Rule of Four, briefs, amicus curiae brief, majority opinion, dissenting opinion, concurring opinion, law clerks, precedent, stare decisis

First, take 5-10 minutes and read how the Supreme Court operates.

Next, let's look at a real case, Riley v. California. The Court granted cert in January of 2014.  It involves warrantless searches of cell phones and the possible violation of Fourth Amendment rights. ScotusBlog and Oyez both have quite a few resources on the case.

Here's an example of a brief and a couple of amicus curiae briefs (ACLU and Arizona, et al). The oral arguments illustrate the back and forth between Justices and attorneys.

Here is the official opinion of the Court in Riley v. California.

The court system in the United States is predicated on the principle of stare decisis, or following past precedents. Why is stare decisis so important for our legal system?

Precedent & Stare Decisis