1. Chose a Supreme Court case from the list within this competency labeled: Selected
Supreme Court Cases below:
Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. ___ (2012). This case involved federal attempts to prevent an Arizona state immigration law (S.B. 1070) from being enforced. The United States brought suit, arguing that immigration law is exclusively in the federal domain. Agreeing with the federal government, a federal district court enjoined specific provisions in the law. Arizona appealed to the Supreme Court to overturn the decision. In a 53 decision, the court found that specific provisions in the law did conflict with federal law, while others were constitutional.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). This case represented a challenge to the principle of separate but equal established by Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The case was brought by students who were denied admittance to certain public schools based exclusively on race. The unanimous decision in Brown v. Board determined that the existence of racially segregated public schools violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court decided that schools segregated by race perpetrated harm by giving legal sanction to the idea that African Americans were inherently inferior. The ruling effectively overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and removed the legal supports for segregated schools nationwide.
Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976). This case concerned the power of the then recently created Federal Election Commission to regulate the financing of political campaigns. These restrictions limited the amount of contributions that could be made to candidates and required political contributions to be disclosed, among other things. In 1975, Senator James Buckley filed suit, arguing that these limits amounted to a violation of First Amendment protections on free speech and free association. In a series of decisions in this complex case, the court determined that these restrictions did not violate the First Amendment.
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 573 U.S. ___ (2014). This case involved a challenge to the mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that required that all employment-based group health care plans provide coverage for certain types of contraceptives. The law, however, allowed exemptions for religious employers such as churches that held a religious-based opposition to contraception. The plaintiffs in the case argued that Hobby Lobby, a large family-owned chain of arts and crafts stores, was run based on Christian principles and therefore should be exempt as well because of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA). The 54 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby agreed with the plaintiffs and declared that RFRA permits for-profit companies like Hobby Lobby to deny coverage for contraception in their health plans when that coverage violates a religious belief.
2. Your project is to analyze your case and identify correlations between its content and
how it applies to any topic(s) we have covered in the course (all the LOs).
3. Think critically and apply what you have learned to your analysis of the case. Remember
this is NOT an essay or summary over what happened in the case. But an analysis of why
and how it relates to government structures/processes/powers/rights/etc.
4. You need to utilize a narrative which includes supporting evidence from your cited
sources.
5. See the requirements below:
Analysis Requirements
Cover page: Includes your name; GOVT 2305; CWID; Term (Fall 2020 etc.); Instructor
Times New Roman 12-point font; double spaced
This must be in WORD or PDF format
Introduction paragraph briefly outlining what you are going to be analyzing.
Conclusion paragraph briefly reiterating what you analyzed and provided supporting evidence
of.
Utilize proper in text parenthetical citations and a compiled work cited page using MLA,
Chicago, or APA format style.
Page numbers
Minimum word count 1,200 words
Utilize a minimum of 6 legitimate sources: In general a thorough analysis/case study would
have 8-10 sources.
Recommended:
– Textbook
– https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court
-https://www.oyez.org/cases/2019
https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/supreme-court-landmarks
– Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/rr/main/alcove9/usgov/intgroups.html
-TAMUC library databases such as
Academic Search Complete
EBSCOhost
JSTOR
http://www.tamuc.edu/library/
-Best websites include .edu/.org/.gov
Your paper MUST utilize both in text parenthetical citations and have a compiled work cited
page.
