Supreme Court Seminar

18 January

• The next 3 classes will be Con Law II lectures.
• 9 classes will be argument; each week a team argues a case to two bodies:
  • SCOTUS: each of us will be a justice (there will be at least 2 of each), and the professors
  • The rest of the class, not as justices
• We'll try to pick how the cases will come out. This is a lesson in humility, but also a lesson in how uncertain the US legal system is.
• We're also trying to persuade the class-- and we'll vote on that too.
• Argument is 1 hour total (30 min per side). There will be 2-3 minutes without questions. There will be evaluations and we'll record the extent to which we influenced the class.
• Cases are drawn from the active docket (about 100 to pick from). It's rare to come down in less than 1 month after oral arguments, so keep that in mind.
• Prior to presentation, present 3 items in writing:
  1. An edited version of the lower court's opinion (down to 2 pages or so); can maybe leave out issues, as long as you don't drop the one that caused the court to grant cert. (team-generated)
  2. A brief (not a full-fledged brief). 2 pages or so: enable class members to understand the case and what your side's principal arguments are.
  3. (the third item is the other party's brief)
  Total length should be 5-8 pages; submit by noon Monday the day before the presentation. Be sure to include the salient facts-- this may mean going to read other lower court decisions.

  Don't use too much precedent. SCOTUS briefs and cases tend to be cite-crazy, but we don't need to be. On the other hand, don't forget the text of the constitution.

• None of that stuff counts for the grade. The grade is 100% the paper. 20pp minimum. On any subject we please. Due the last day of exams.
• "Law Week" is a really valuable tool. It comes out every week, and has a brief description of cases making their way up through the system, especially federally.
• "Preview" is another great source; it's monthly, from the ABA, and it has 2-3 page articles on pending SCOTUS cases. It can be found in the periodical reading area.