Overview:
Students will examine primary source documents and
photographs to explain the ways in which local events
lead to cases being presented before the Supreme Court.
The Court upholds laws that protect the rights of all
people an ensure equal opportunity.
Materials:
Aim/Essential Question:
How do Supreme Court decisions affect the lives of
people living in the United States?
Background Information:
Teachers will need to explain the importance of the
basic principles of American democracy that unify us
as a nation: our individual rights to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness; responsibility for the
common good; equality of opportunity and equal protection
of the law; freedom of speech and religion; majority
rule with protection for minority rights; and limitations
on government, with power held by the people and delegated
by them to their elected officials who are responsible
to those who elected them to office.
The Supreme Court, which was established by the Constitution,
is responsible for managing conflicts over the interpretations
and applications of the law. For example, in 1954, the
Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case of Brown
v Board of Education that the doctrine of "separate
but equal" had no place in public schools. Separate
educational facilities for black and white students
were deemed unequal and schools were required to desegregate.
In December of 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery,
Alabama for refusing to give up her seat to a white
passenger. She was arrested for violating a city law
requiring racial segregation on public buses. Five days
later, on the day of Rosa Park's trial, the Montgomery
Improvement Association organized a boycott of the public
buses. The Montgomery Bus Boycott, which lasted for
381 days, was a protest campaign intended to oppose
the city's policy of racial segregation on its public
transportation system. On February 1, 1956, the federal
class action suit of Browder vs. Gayle was
filed in the Alabama courts. The lawsuit claimed that
the City of Montgomery, the State of Alabama, and the
National City Bus Lines were operating city buses in
violation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United
States Constitution. On June 4, 1956, the federal district
court ruled that Alabama's racial segregation laws for
buses were unconstitutional. While the case was appealed
to the United States Supreme Court, segregation remained
intact and the boycott continued. On November 13, 1956,
the United States Supreme Court decided to uphold the
ruling of the lower court and legally ended racial segregation
on Alabama's public buses.
Objective:
Students will analyze primary
source documents and photographs to sequence the events
that led to the Supreme Court's decision in regard to
racial segregation on Alabama's public buses.
Motivation:
- Ask your students to tell what they know about
the United States Supreme Court.
- Explain that the United States Supreme Court is
the highest judicial court in the United States.
The court consists of one Chief Justice and eight
Associate Justices. Their job is to determine whether
laws are in agreement with the United States Constitution
or the law of the land. If the justices determine
that laws are not in agreement with the Constitution
or are unconstitutional, the law can no longer be
in effect.
- Ask students what topics or laws they feel the
Supreme Court should make decisions about.
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