Case Brief Assignment
75-point assignment
“A case “brief” is a summary of a case decided by a court…it is taken from a lengthier course decision and designed for simplicity and focus” (Carmen, Ritter, & Witt, 2008, p. iii). In other words, a case brief is a condensed, concise outline of a court opinion. It summarizes a court opinion so that key elements as well as the essence of the court’s opinion are included.
USED:
More to read: Commercial law case brief
For more efficient self-study
To present the case to others
{It’s easier and simpler than re-reading a 50-100-page long case every time you want to refresh your memory about the case}
For this course, we will divide the case briefs into six sections which include the following (see Moodle for available PDF example):
❖ CAPSULE: a review of the findings of the Court including the constitutional issue; explains the type of case that will be briefed; a shorter version of the HOLDING
❖ FACTS: a presentation of the circumstances of the event that led to the court case; explains the key facts of the case (who, what, when where, how, and why)
❖ ISSUE: a presentation of the particular legal (constitutional) issue at hand; will always been in a question format with a YES or NO response
❖ HOLDING or SUPREME COURT DECISION: statement(s) that affirm the constitutional issue with the court’s decision implied; the most important part of a court decision
❖ REASON: usually the longest part of the case brief; includes the logic behind the Court’s stance on the issue at hand; can include direct wording from the Court’s written decision
❖ CASE SIGNIFICANCE: an explanation of the consequences of the ruling and how procedures will change
Also read: Employment Law Case Brief
Note:
You may see differently named sections of case briefs included in other resources. For the purpose of this course, we will use the above sections. Basically, the sections are all the same, just either labeled differently or have an extra section here or there.
Directions for Course Assignment 1:
Step 1: Reviewing the information above as well as the PDF entitled “Court Brief Examples.”
Step 2: Select one of the following court cases:
▪ Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 (2008)
▪ Montejo v. Louisiana, 556 U.S. 778 (2009)
▪ Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U.S. 472 (2008)
▪ Tague v. Louisiana, 444 U.S. 469 (1980)
▪ Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522 (1975)
Step 3: Locate the court case using the internet. A few reliable websites include: justia.com;
law.cornell.edu; scotusblog.com.
Step 4: Read through the case taking notes and remembering those sections (e.g. Issue, Holding, Reason, etc.) that are expected to be completed for this assignment.
Step 5: Prepare a case brief using the sections listed above. Ensure to properly utilize in-text citations if needed, especially for direct quotes. This assignment will be submitted through TurnItIn.com, so proper citations need to be utilized or work will be considered plagiarized.
ASSIGNED: Monday, January 30 at 12:00 p.m.
DUE: Saturday, February 3, at 11:55 p.m. CST
See the next page for the grading rubric for this exercise.
| Student’s Submission | Description | Allotted Points | Point Allotment—75 points TOTAL | |||
| Mechanics | Work should have no mechanical errors in spelling, grammar, capitalization, or punctuation | 20 | Work has 12 or more mechanical errors in spelling, grammar, capitalization, or punctuation 0 points | Work has 6-11 mechanical errors in spelling, grammar, capitalization, or punctuation 6 points | Work has 1-5 mechanical errors in spelling, grammar, capitalization, or punctuation 15 points | Work has NO mechanical errors in spelling, grammar, capitalization, or punctuation 20 points |
| Organization | Work/Ideas should be organized, reader friendly, paragraphs & spacing properly utilized; work reflective of assignment’s instructions; proper format | 15 | Fails to organize ideas; not reader-friendly; no effort to use paragraphs or spacing; ‘1-big paragraph syndrome’ throughout; did not follow directions; format incorrect 0 points | Very little effort to organize ideas; barely reader-friendly; suffering from many of the effects of the ‘1-big paragraph’ syndrome; somewhat followed directions; format somewhat correct 4 points | Sound effort to organize ideas & writing; sort of reader-friendly; presence of some of the effects of the ‘1-big paragraph’ syndrome; almost followed directions precisely; format nearly perfect 9 points | Establishes precise ideas/ organization; reader friendly; separated by paragraphs & spacing where needed; precisely followed directions; format perfect 15 points |
| Length | Work should meet the minimum work requirement | 20 | Does not meet the 500-word minimum requirement 0 points | Meets the 500-word minimum requirement 20 points | ||
| Content | Work has clear, logical reasoning; flows smoothly from one idea to the next; transitions of subject matter make sense; proper court case titles & citations of case direct wording | 20 | Content does not have clear, logical reasoning; does not flow smoothly from one idea to another; transitions of subject matter do not make sense at all; no in-text citation; NO documentation of court case titles & cites for direct wording 0 points | Content is hardly clear & logical in reasoning; rarely flows smoothly from one idea to another; transitions of subject matter occasionally make sense; poor documentation of court case titles & direct wording 6 points | Content has somewhat of a clear, logical reasoning; seemingly flows smoothly from one idea to another; transitions of subject matter are tolerable; adequate documentation of court case titles & direct wording 15 points | Content has clear, logical reasoning; flows smoothly from one idea to next; transitions of subject matter make sense; proper documentation of court case title & material 20 points |