Civics & Literacy · Unit 3 · Extras Lesson

Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Today you’ll complete the Bill of Rights Supreme Court Case Chart. Work through the stations in order and type your answers right on this page. At the end, you’ll download a PDF to turn in online.

By the end you can: explain how 20 Supreme Court decisions defined the rights in the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 14th Amendments—and apply those precedents to situations in your own life.
Chart 0/20

Student information

Your work saves as you type—but only in this browser on this device. This module may take two class periods. Download your PDF before you leave.

Choose how you want to read (you can switch anytime in the bar at the top):

Today’s route

  1. 1 · CNN105 min
  2. 2 · Do Now5 min
  3. 3 · Toolkit10 min
  4. 4 · Part A: 1st Amend.25 min
  5. 5 · Part B: 4th Amend.30 min
  6. 6 · Part C: 5th, 6th, 14th15 min
  7. 7 · Part D: 8th Amend.10 min
  8. 8 · Apply the Precedent10 min
  9. 9 · Check Your Chart5 min
  10. 10 · Ticket Out5 min
  11. 11 · Extensionoptional
  12. 12 · Turn It In2 min
1

CNN10

5 min

Watch today’s CNN10 episode, just like in Lesson 8. Pick ONE story.

Open CNN10 ↗
2

Do Now: Rights Radar

5 min

Before you learn anything, make your call. Agree or disagree? No wrong answers yet—you’ll come back and check yourself at the end.

3

Your Toolkit

10 min

How does a case reach the Supreme Court?

1. Something happensSomeone believes the government violated their rights.
2. Trial courtA judge or jury decides the facts.
3. Appeals courtA higher court checks if the law was applied correctly.
4. Supreme CourtTakes only about 60 cases a year out of thousands of requests.

When the Supreme Court decides, its ruling becomes a PRECEDENT—the rule every court in the country has to follow.

Today’s amendments

Key terms — tap each card to flip it

How each case file works

  1. Read the Background (what happened) and The Issue (the constitutional question).
  2. Make your Prediction—who do you think won? This unlocks the ruling.
  3. Read The Ruling and What Changed (the precedent).
  4. Fill in your chart row: Amendment, Issue Involved, and Court Decision / Precedent.
4

Part A: The First Amendment

25 min
Religion & expression · 7 cases. Big question: where are the limits of freedom—especially at school?
5

Part B: The Fourth Amendment

30 min
Searches & seizures · 7 cases. Warm up in the Search Lab first.

Search Lab: Legal or Illegal?

The rule: police usually need a search warrant. But there are exceptions—consent, plain view, search during an arrest, protective sweep, and car searches. Make the call on each one.

Score: 0/7

6

Part C: Your Day in Court (5th, 6th, 14th)

15 min
The right to a lawyer, to stay silent, and to fair process · 4 cases.

Build the Miranda Warning

Tap the lines in order. Careful—one of them is NOT part of the Miranda warning.

7

Part D: The Eighth Amendment

10 min
Cruel & unusual punishment · 2 cases that show how precedent can flip.

Precedent Can Flip

1972 — Furman v. Georgia: the death penalty, as applied, is unconstitutional.
1972–1976 — No executions in the U.S. 35 states rewrite their laws.
1976 — Gregg v. Georgia: with new, clearer rules, the death penalty is constitutional.
1977 — Executions resume.
2005 — Roper v. Simmons: banned for people under 18 at the time of the crime.
8

Apply the Precedent

10 min

This is how lawyers and judges actually use these cases. For each situation, choose the precedent a court would rely on.

Score: 0/8

9

Check Your Case Chart

5 min

This is your Bill of Rights Supreme Court Case Chart, built from your answers. Red rows are incomplete—tap a case name to jump back to it.

0/20 cases complete · 0/20 predictions correct

CaseAmendmentIssue InvolvedCourt Decision / Precedent
10

Ticket Out the Door

5 min

Revisit your Rights Radar

Here’s what you predicted at the start—now see what the Court actually says.

Your radar got —

11

Extension: The Snapchat Case

Honors, or if time allows

Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. (2021): 14-year-old Brandi Levy didn’t make the varsity cheer squad. On a Saturday, off campus, she posted a Snapchat with profanity about the school and the team. The school suspended her from cheer for a year. The Supreme Court ruled 8–1 that the school violated her free speech. Schools can still act in some off-campus situations (like bullying or threats), but their power is more limited.

12

Turn It In

2 min

  1. Tap Download my PDF. The file saves to your Downloads folder.
  2. Open this lesson’s assignment online.
  3. Start the assignment and choose to upload a file.
  4. Choose your PDF and submit the assignment.

On a Chromebook? If the download doesn’t work, use Print / Save as PDF and choose “Save as PDF” as the destination in the print window.

Start over?

This erases EVERY answer in this browser. Download your PDF first.