Overview
In Part I this week, choose a Federal Supreme Court case that originated in illinois that
involves civil rights or civil liberties that was heard by the United States Supreme Court,
and a decision was rendered. If illinois does not have a case that was decided by the United
States Supreme Court, choose a civil rights case from another state for which the United
States Supreme Court issued a decision.
Here is a brief description of civil rights and civil liberties: Civil rights refers to equal social
opportunities under the law. It gives you these freedoms, such as the right to vote, the
right to public education, or a fair trial, among other things, regardless of your wealth or
race. Civil liberties mean freedom of religion, equal treatment and due process under the
law, and the right to privacy.
You should be able to go online and look up your state and famous cases decided by the
Supreme Court. For example, Brown v Board of Education (1951) started in Topeka,
Kansas, and ended up in the Supreme Court of the United States. Another example would
be Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v Steve Sisolak, Governor of Nevada (2020), which
started in Nevada and ended up in the United States Supreme Court. A good source of
information about cases decided by the United States Supreme Court is
www.scotusblog.com, www.justia.com, or www.oyez.org.
Some other examples of cases include Lau v Nichols, Tinker v DesMoines Independent Community School District, Terry v Ohio, Regents of California v Bakke, Schenck v United States, Plessy v Ferguson, Shelley v Kraemer, Texas v Johnson, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v Texas, Korematsu v United States, Obergefell v Hodges, Laird v Tatum and Loving v Virginia.
Other sources can be researched online using search terms for “civil rights cases decided
by the U.S. Supreme Court.” Be sure to use a case actually decided by the United States
Supreme Court, and not a case decided by your state’s supreme court or a different court.
A case that is still pending before the United States Supreme Court should not be used.