Teaching Ideas for Chapter 16:
The Federal Courts
Presidents have failed 20 percent of the time to get Senate confirmation of their nominees to the Supreme Court, a percentage much higher than any other federal position. Call on volunteers to analyze why this particular office should have a rate of rejection so much higher than for other offices.
Check the court dockets for state and local courts in your vicinity. Distribute information on locations, time of court sessions, and types of cases pending. Each student should visit a session of court within the next two weeks and write a brief statement describing how the general courtroom atmosphere differed from what he or she may have expected.
Assign groups of students to two panels. Hold a short debate on the opposing theories of original intent and loose construction of the Constitution. You Are the Policymaker: The Debate over Original Intentions could serve as the basis for allocating responsibilities among members of the panel.
The Supreme Court has always insisted on maintaining complete secrecy over deliberations among the justices in conference. Therefore, there was great controversy when the Library of Congress released the papers of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall shortly after his death in 1993. Marshall's papers provide a rare look at behind-the-scenes maneuvering by the Court. Divide your class into several groups and have them review newspaper accounts of Marshall's files (May 1993). One or two groups should focus on key cases (particularly in the area of civil liberties) while another group should focus on the controversy over the decision to release the papers to the press.