American Government Modified Amicus Brief Assignment
Materials:
Amicus Brief packet provided by teacher Case Briefs for the following three Supreme Court cases from www.casebriefs.com
o Strickland v. Washington o Brady v. Maryland o Batson v. Kentucky
American Government textbook Graphic Organizers for modified assignment Amicus Brief Organizer for modified assignment
Amount of Time Needed to Complete Assignment: 2-3 45 minute class periods
Assignment Description:
For this assignment, students were instructed to look over the following packet of documents and
write a detailed amicus brief for the Dexter case that is about to go before the United States Supreme
Court. Students were to determine whether they were in favor of the respondent or petitioner and
state their reasoning for their position using references to the evidence, constitutional articles,
amendments, and Supreme Court precedents. The last page of the packet gives a detailed
explanation as to what information needed to be in the amicus brief and in what order the
information should appear.
Modifications Description:
When I modified this assignment I created the two charts below to help the students
organize the information and their thoughts as we went through the materials. I also collected the
additional information about the Supreme Court cases that they would need to use as references in
the amicus brief. The students used the amicus brief packet, case briefs, and their textbook to
gather the information needed to complete the assignment. I worked with the students to go
through each piece of information to help them keep their thoughts focused and organized. Finally,
I provided an amicus brief template for the students to complete for their final written work.
The first graphic organizer was created to help the students define the three amendments
and Supreme Court cases that were pertinent to the amicus brief. The first column provides the
name of the amendment/Supreme Court case. In the second column the student is to describe or
define the amendment/Supreme Court case. In the third column the student is to write how the
amendment/Supreme Court case applies to the Dexter case.
The second graphic organizer looked at the various pieces of evidence that is provided from
the Dexter case. This graphic organizer has two columns for the students to consider. If the
students believe that the evidence shows that Dexter’s rights were upheld, they must provide that
information in the first of the two columns. If they believe that the evidence shows that Dexter’s
rights were not upheld, they must provide that information in the second of the two columns. This
helped the students visualize if they were leaning in favor or against Dexter’s rights being upheld.
Once the students have completed both graphic organizers, I asked them to look over the
information that they have collected and to state which side they were in favor of. If they had some
difficulty coming to a conclusion, then we looked over the graphic organizers again to help them
come to a conclusion. The students were then given the amicus brief template to complete. The
template goes through each paragraph of the amicus brief and gives the student a brief description
of what information should be included in the paragraph and how long the paragraph should be.
Once the students completed the template, the general education government teacher said that they
could turn it in for their final grade along with their graphic organizers. Students could also use the
template as a rough draft for typing up a final draft if the general education teacher preferred to
have a typed final draft.
Amendments Describe/Define How applies to Dexter Case
4th Amendment
5th Amendment
6th Amendment
Supreme Court Cases
Brady v. Maryland
Strickland v. Washington
Batson v. Kentucky
Government -- Amicus Brief Assignment
Graphic Organizer Page 1
Evidence That Dexter's Rights Were Upheld Evidence That Dexter's Rights Were Not Upheld
Exhibit A
Document 1
Exhibit A
Document 2
Exhibit B
Document 1
Exhibit B
Document 2
Exhibit C
Document 1
Exhibit C
Document 2
Graphic Organizer Page 2
In The Supreme Court of the United States
Dexter (Petitioner) v.
Michigan State Prosecutor (Respondent)
On Writ of Certiorari
To the Supreme Court of the United States
BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE OF THE
Criminal Bar Association
In Support of (respondent or petitioner)
Paragraph 1: A position statement of at least THREE SENTENCES in which you take a stance on this
question: Were the rights of Dwight Dexter upheld in the criminal justice system?
Paragraph 2: One-paragraph argument that supports your position statement. It should begin with a clear topic
sentence and incorporate evidence (facts, examples, or quotations) that support your topic sentence. The
paragraph should be at least FIVE SENTENCES and should reference at least one Constitutional amendment
that supports your argument.
Amicus Brief Template
Paragraph 3: One-paragraph argument that supports your position statement. It should begin with a clear topic
sentence and incorporate evidence (facts, examples, or quotations) that support your topic sentence. The
paragraph should be at least FIVE SENTENCES and should reference at least one Constitutional amendment
that supports your argument.
Paragraph 4: One-paragraph argument that supports your position statement. It should begin with a clear topic
sentence and incorporate evidence (facts, examples, or quotations) that support your topic sentence. The
paragraph should be at least FIVE SENTENCES and should reference at least one Supreme Court precedent
(case) that supports your argument.
Paragraph 5: Write a conclusion of at least THREE SENTENCES in which you restate your position and
restate your most important points.
Respectfully submitted,
(your name)
Attorney at Law, Criminal Bar Association