Students will explore the cases Marbury v. Madison (1803), Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) and United States v. Nixon (1974). By examining the issues in these cases, students will analyze how the Constitution's separation of powers and checks and balances work to protect liberty, and at the same time can result branches of government being set, as one Justice put it, on a "collision course."

Unit 1 [The Federal Courts in History]

Students will analyze the cases Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), Brown v. Board of Education (1954), University of California Regents v. Bakke (1978), Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger (2003). These cases will challenge students to understand the Equal Protection Clause and evaluate how it should apply to situations that have challenged Americans from the 19th to 21st centuries.

Unit 2 [Equal Protection and Affirmative Action]

Students will analyze the cases Mapp v. Ohio (1961), Gideon v. Wainwright (1965), and Miranda v. Arizona (1969). By exploring the issues in these cases, students will understand the ways the Constitution protects individuals accused of crimes, and how the Constitution's checks and balances system was designed to prevent an abuse of power. Further, they will evaluate the ways the Supreme Court has interpreted Bill of Rights guarantees protecting the rights of the accused.

Unit 3 [Rights of the Accused]

Students will analyze the cases Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988), and Pottawatomie v. Earls (2002). The issues in these cases, ranging from rights to free speech, press, and privacy, will help students understand and assess the ways the Supreme Court has defined the rights of public school students.

Unit 4 [Students and the Constitution]

Students will explore the cases Schenck v. United States (1919), Texas v. Johnson (1989), and Reno v. A.C.L.U. (1997). These cases will help students understand and evaluate the First Amendment's protection of free speech, and the way that definition has been limited and expanded through history.

Unit 5 [Expansion of Expression]

Students will examine the cases Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), Roe v. Wade (1973), and Lawrence v. Texas (2003). By exploring the issues in these cases, students will evaluate whether the Constitution protects a right to privacy, and if so, how its limits should be defined.

Unit 6 [Personal Liberty]