National Government: The Judicial Branch
Session 5: Court Cases

Materials

• Overhead projector or board
• Magazines, newspapers
• Internet access (optional)
• Scissors
• Tape or glue
• Crayons or magic marker

Instructional Activities

1. Review the previous session activity.
   
   
2. Instruct students to work in groups to create portfolios, using magazines, newspapers, and the Internet to find articles on court cases. Groups should obtain two articles for each student represented in the group. (Example: If there are four students in Group 1, the group is responsible for reporting on eight articles.)
   
   
3. Have groups of students summarize their articles, determine in which court jurisdiction the case is being heard, and ascertain whether the case has the ability to be appealed further.
   
   
4. Students should also indicate if the case involved in the article is a criminal or civil case. (If students are unaware of the differences between criminal and civil cases, they should use their textbook or class dictionary to determine the differences.)