The Bill of Rights and the U.S. Supreme Court

In this lesson, students work in groups and individually to understand how the Constitution/Bill of Rights is a living document and how Supreme Court decisions protect the rights of all Americans.

A lesson plan for grades 9–10 Social Studies

By Grace Wasserman

Learn more

• Bill of Rights Institute Instructional materials, lesson plans, and professional development programs are offered on this site which helps educators teach students about the founding documents of the United States and their principles.
• The Supreme Court Historical Society Learn about the history of the Supreme Court, its past and present justices, important court decisions, and more.

Related pages

• "We the People": Students will gain a better understanding of the U.S. Constitution by exploring the language of the Constitution.
• The U.S. Constitution: On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine of the fifty-five delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed the Constitution of the United States of America. Since 2005, Constitution Day has been officially celebrated every September 17. This collection of resources offers many different ways to teach about the Constitution and its impact on students' lives.
• The Declaration of Independence: In this interdisciplinary lesson, students will examine the role of the Declaration of Independence in the development of the American Revolution and as part of the American identity. They will also analyze the argumentative structure and write their own declaration.

Related topics

• Learn more about American history, Bill of Rights, Constitution, Supreme Court, United States, civics, court cases, freedoms, history, landmark cases, law, rights, and social studies.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• see how the U.S. Supreme Court reaches decisions
• see how the U.S. Constitution is open to interpretation (and how politics, Presidential appointments, and Senate confirmations play an important role)
• see how rulings are far-reaching in setting public policy and affecting individual rights and freedoms

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

3 Hours

Materials/resources

• overhead to tally results of group opinions
• You Be the Judge handout for each group
• copies of Cut and Paste worksheet, scissors, and glue for color, cut, and paste chart
• overhead transparency and post-its for Overhead Concentration

Technology resources

• computers with internet access (one per student or one per group)
• overhead projector

Pre-activities

Students need prior knowledge of the Constitution’s supremacy, the Bill of Right’s contents, structure of our state and federal court system, and the role and procedures of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Activities

1. Begin the lesson by asking the students, “The 8th amendment protects us from what kind of punishment?” Once they answer, “cruel and unusual,” discuss whether or not the death penalty is considered “cruel and unusual.” Since responses will vary based upon personal perspectives, tell the students this illustrates how the U.S. Constitution/Bill of Rights is open to interpretation, and how we need our courts to interpret questions raised by us concerning the meaning of our laws.
2. At this point, tell the students they are going to take on the role of Supreme Court Justices by looking at some real-life cases that have come to the high court as a result of differing interpretations by the parties involved.
3. Divide the students into odd-numbered groups in order to get a majority decision.
4. Each group chooses a student to act as Chief Justice. This person acts in much the same capacity as a true Chief Justice by guiding discussion, calling for a vote, assigning a justice to write the majority opinion.
5. Give each group a You Be the Judge handout
6. Tell the students that they will begin with the case of Tinker v. Des Moines. Briefly discuss the facts of the case. Before the students find the majority decision the court reached, pose the question: “Should symbols (what a person wears, hairstyles, tattoos, etc.) be considered ‘free speech’ as established in the First Amendment?” For example, as a protest against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War, 3 teenagers wore black armbands with peace symbols to school. Further explain that the students were suspended for violating a school rule which forbade the armbands, and how this case and the issue of free speech made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
7. At this point, ask the students how they think the Court should rule. Give each group a few minutes to discuss, vote, and write a brief majority opinion explaining why they reached their decision. Tally the results using the overhead, briefly asking a couple of the “chiefs” to explain their reasoning.
8. At that point, direct students to the Landmark Supreme Court Cases website.
9. Have them read through the case and compare their decision with the Supreme Court decision.
10. Have the students continue using other selected cases that touch on a variety of Constitutional issues — especially those that are still debated. For example:
• Texas v. Johnson (flag burning and free speech)
• Skokie v. Illinois (1st Amendment freedoms of assembly and speech)
• Engel v. Vitale (prayer in public schools)
• New Jersey v. TLO(search and seizure rights of students)
• Weeks v. United States (unwarranted searches by the police)
• Gideon v. Wainwright, Escobedo v. Illinois, and Miranda v. Arizona (rights of the accused)
11. After all cases have been completed, stress again the importance of the Supreme Court in establishing public policy and law.,
12. Have the students work in groups on a cut and paste, matching the case name with the result using the Cut and Paste worksheet.
13. Another useful reinforcement is the Overhead Concentration game.

Assessment

• 25% of their grade comes from their participation in the group activities (”You Be the Judge” and “Cut and Paste”).
• 75% comes from their Final Test where they are asked individually to fill in missing information with either the case name or the result.

Supplemental information

Comments

I also like to show the motion picture, Gideon’s Trumpet, to illustrate further the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in ensuring the rights of everyday Americans.