Paper , Order, or Assignment Requirements

The Supreme Court of the United States is said to be the final arbiter of the law and the Constitution of the United States. Every year, a plethora of cases are sent to the Court for review, and a small number of them are accepted and heard by the Justices during the year. For this assignment, you will be responsible for an examination of the Supreme Court and the caseson the 2016-2017 docket utilizing the readings provided to you in class and through your own independent research. Specifically, you will focus on the role of judicial audiences, as described in Lawrence Baum’s Judges and their Audiences and impact of the Supreme Court on the various audiences for a particular case. Your term paper will examine the Court and the Justices themselves, as well as follow a particular case on the current docket. The breakdown of the term paper is as follows:Part 1: The Court and Judicial BehaviorThe Supreme Court of the United States is made up of one Chief Justice of the Court and eight Associate Justices, who are responsible for deciding cases brought before them. Using your own independent research and the readings in class, break down the current Supreme Court and its members. Who are the Justices and when were they appointed? By whom? Given their appointing President and other information, what reasonable assumptions can be made about the individual members and the Court as a whole? What audience’s do members present themselves as advocates for? What seems to be the prevailing judicial philosophy of the Court, and does this fall in line with any of what Baum calls the “dominant model of judicial behavior”? How so?How do the Justices present themselves to the other Justices? To the people? To the other branches of Government? Part II: The 2016-17 Supreme Court DocketStudents will be responsible for selecting one case from the Supreme Court docket listed below. NOTE: Only a certain number of students will be allowed to select a case. Make sure you have your first and second (and possibly third) choice prepared if a case is unavailable. For your particular case, first describe the petition in the case. What is at issue? What are the limitations in the case (are their limitations to the petition and the questions to be answered?) What are the potential audiences for the case and why might these audiences be interested in the

outcome? Follow the progeny of the case (that is, where does the case come from, what were the decisions in the lower courts? Why did this become an issue or concern that would lead to a Supreme Court ruling, etc?). What makes this a federal matter (that is, why is this a matter the Supreme Court decided would be fit to be argued over others?) Who are the main plaintiffs/defendants in the case and what are their arguments according to the briefs provided to the Court? What is the audience of the brief? Who are the lawyers responsible for the case (have they argued before the Supreme Court before and were they successful?)Part III: Law and its AudienceStudents will follow their case up to the oral arguments. Thinking about the potential audiences from the previous section, what professional, policy, or social groups focused attention on the case? Did they write amicus briefs and what were the arguments they made? What audiences did these groups believe were important to the decision and the Justices? Did the news media print or report anything about the case? If so, what was said about the case and was the reporting accurate given what you already know?Part IV: Oral ArgumentListen to the oral argument at http://www.oyez.com. What arguments did the lawyers attempt to make during oral arguments and who was the focal audience for their argument? What audience did they feel would be most impacted by the decision? What questions/concerns/comments were raised by the Justices during oral arguments and how did the lawyers for both sides respond to these questions? What audience became the central focus of the argument, and was there a disagreement in the main audience between lawyers and the Justices or between the Justices themselves? Part V: Final OutcomesGiven what you now know about the Court, the case, and the audiences, how do you think the Justices will decide and why? What may constrain their votes? Who will dissent and why will they dissent? Could there be more than one decision on the case and if so, what may cause the decision to be split? What will the result mean for the audience (both the actual and potential audiences for the case). If your case has a decision before the due date: were you accurate in your predictions and what were the exact results? What did the decision/dissents/concurrences say and how will it impact the audiences of the case. What were the implications for the case? Did the news media pick up and report the outcome of the case and if so, what was reported/focused on and was the reporting accurate?