Landmark Supreme Court Decisions

In this activity, students will dig into the judicial branch and investigate a landmark Supreme Court case. Students will create a Frayer Model storyboard to describe the background and events that led to the case. As a part of their storyboard, students should include both viewpoints of their selected case,the Supreme Court’s ruling, and the rationale behind the ruling was. Students can select from the list below, or teachers can provide additional cases they would like students to investigate.

Below is a list of possible landmark Supreme Court cases that students can use for their assignment.

• Koramatsu v. United States
• Texas v. Johnson
• Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Roe v. Wade
• Tucker v. Des Moines
• Marbury v. Madison
• Dred Scott v. Sandford
• Obergefell v. Hodges

Extended Activity

For an extended activity, students may choose to research another Supreme Court case not listed above. Students can create an additional space in their Frayer Model that reflects their opinion of the Supreme Court ruling. Students may examine the historical events that led up to the case.