Civil Rights Supreme Court Cases

1 Case study1 Fairy Tale

Your job is to communicate in both of your cases the answers to the three questions

1. The Context—Who is who2. The Constitutional Questions3. The Implications for America

The “Case study” Worth 100 pointsYou also must provide 1 copy for each of your classmates (36 total)

1. Requirements: *3 sources minimum…Oyez must be one *Typed and ANNOTATED2. Precedents/Stare Decisis3. Petitioner and Respondent4. Context Timeline5. SCOTUS Majority Opinion—who wrote it (Supreme Court Justice),

who agreed-Constitutional Questions “Held” or

6. SCOTUS Minority Dissenting Opinions, if applicable7. Implications for the Country

25 points

25points

25points

25points

Case Study

• Whatever the source of the case, it will usually include the following elements:

• a description of the facts • a statement of the issue or problem posed by the

case • a reference to the arguments or various positions

that can be taken on the issue • a decision or a result on the issue presented • an explanation of the reasoning behind the decision.

Case Study Example

Let’s grade one!

Supreme Court Landmark case Story time!!

Directions. We are going to have story time! You can create an old school storybook OR animated storybook using PPT to tell the class the story of one HISTORIC Supreme Court Case. To do so, you’ll need to think of a SWEET story you remember from when you were a kid, then you’ll research your case and tell the story of that case in storybook kind of way…Got it?

STEPS TO FOLLOW:1.Choose a story you remember2.Research Your case using Oyez3.Make sure you have taken down the critical information for your case (see below CRITICAL INFO SECTION)4.Create a storyline using simple explanations 5.Add illustrations to show your audience what is going on!

Storybook Supreme Court Case• Details, Details! Here are the details you need to make sure you get a Fabulous Grade!• • • FACTS OF THE CASE...............................................................................................................................20• We need to know what is going on with the people involved in the case, what’s the deal, how’d they get here• • STARE DECISIS……………………………………………………………………………………………………….20• We need to know about previous decision the SC has made that may effect this case•  • CONSTITUTIONAL QUESTION……………………………………………………………………………………20• We need a clear picture of what the Constitutional Issue before the Justices is….Why is this case so important?•  • IMPLICATIONS……………………………………………………………………………………………………….20• Who cares? Why is this case so important, what are its effects?•  • DESIGN & DELIVERY……………………………………………………………………………………………….20• How much effort, color, organization, creativity, and coolness went into this project? How was your story

time?• 100 pts Total

Reed v Reed (1971)

“If you could change your fate, wouldja?

Shamelessly borrowed ideas from the following stories

BravePride and Prejudice

The Reeds in the Potato Kingdom

• Once upon a time there was a happily married couple named Mr. Reed and Mrs. Reed.

• They lived in Idaho, the potato kingdom.

• They had an adopted child. He was named Skip…perhaps that was where the trouble began.

The Reeds separated and divorced..

• She said: He (Mr. Reed) was abusive• He said: The kid lives with me• The Idaho familycourts said-Share custody

Sally and Skip make their own way• Lord Macintosh

: At least we have hair!

• Lord MacGuffin: And all of our teeth!

• Young MacGuffin: If he was a wee bit closer, I could lob a caber at him, ye ken.

• Lord Macintosh: And we don't hide under bridges, you grumpy old troll!

• Lord Dingwall: You want a laugh, eh?Lord Dingwall: [turns to son]Lord Dingwall: Wee Dingwall!Young Dingwall: [Attacks Lord Macintosh]

Sally takes in disabled, vets and makes meals to keep her and Skip together

Then.. Skip dies of a gunshot wound

• At his dad’s.• In the basement.• It is ruled a suicide

Skip’s death was determined a suicide, but Sally was suspicious because Cecil had taken out a life insurance policy on the boy. Because Skip had died without a will, Sally filed a petition to be appointed administrator of his estate, which consisted of only $495 and a few personal belongings. Cecil Reed put in a rival application.

WHAT????

• At the time, Idaho law required that “males must be preferred to females” when more than one person was equally qualified to administer an estate.

• Things are not happy for the girls of the Potato Kingdom!

Go Ginsburg or go home

• Sally Reed follows the willo wisps to….

SUPER GINSBURG!

The Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice

The Journey to the Legends (Supreme Court)

But SUPER Ginsburg is with her

Sally fights to the Supreme Court

BRING IT ON

The Court votes unanimously in Sally’s favor

• The Equal Protection clause of the 14th amendment is violated by the Potato kingdom and the law favoring men over women automatically in probate is unconstitutional!

Facts of the Case

• Facts of the Case: The Idaho Probate Code specified that "males must be preferred to females" in appointing administrators of estates. After the death of their adopted son, both Sally and Cecil Reed sought to be named the administrator of their son's estate (the Reeds were separated). According to the Probate Code, Cecil was appointed administrator and Sally challenged the law in court.

Constitutional question: Legal Provision

Equal Protection clause of the 14th amendment

A Notable Attorney: One of the lawyers for appellant Sally Reed was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who later became the second female justice on the Supreme Court.

Precedents overturned:1. Flat bans on the practice of law by women (Bradwell v. Illinois,

1873), prohibitions on women's tending bar (Goesaert v. Cleary, 1948), and blanket exclusions of women from jury service (Hoyt v. Florida, 1961).

A sad story• A modest stone sign in front of the Idaho Angler shop, 1682 S. Vista Ave., marks the spot where Sally Reed's home

once stood. Her Supreme Court victory in 1971 blazed a trail for American women's rights. • The case Reed v. Reed marked the first time in history that the court applied the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th

Amendment to strike down a state law that discriminated against women. • After Sally Reed and her husband, Cecil, divorced in 1958, she supported herself and her teenage son, Skip, by

baking, baby-sitting, taking in ironing, and caring for disabled veterans in her home. • Skip was found dead in his father's basement in 1967, shot with his father's gun. The death was ruled a suicide. • Both Reed and her ex-husband filed petitions to administer Skip's estate, which consisted of his clothing, a clarinet, a

collection of phonograph records and a college savings account of $495.• Idaho law stated at the time that "the male must be preferred over the female" in such cases where both parties are

equally qualified. The local judge, following the word of the law, automatically approved Cecil Reed's application. Sally Reed decided to appeal.

• After 16 lawyers turned her down, Boise lawyer Allen Derr agreed to take her case. It went all the way to the Supreme Court. Future Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, then a Rutgers law professor, wrote the brief for Reed's case. Derr argued the case before the court.

• On Nov. 22, 1971, Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote the opinion for the court, which was unanimous in Reed's favor. The ruling helped overturn similar laws across the country, including an Idaho law that declared the husband the head of the family.

• Sally Reed lived in the house on Vista Avenue until it was torn down in 1999. She died in Boise 2002 at the age of 93. She is buried at Cloverdale Memorial Park next to her son.

A happy legacy• The Significance of • Reed v. Reed• A unanimous Supreme Court held that the preferences • established in favor of males by the Idaho code were “the • very kind of arbitrary legislative choice forbidden by the • Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” • The decision did not address whether discrimination based • on sex was entitled to strict judicial scrutiny. Five years later, • in • Craig v. Boren• , 429 U.S. 190 (1976), the Court established • a new standard for sex discrimination. Under this “inter• -• mediate” or “heightened scrutiny” standard, discriminato• -• ry laws and policies must be supported by an “exceedingly • persuasive justification” that is substantially related to an • important government objective and cannot be based on • stereotypes about gender roles. • Thanks to Sally Reed, the door was opened for other • women and men to successfully challenge discrimina• -• tory laws under the Equal Protection Clause, and govern• -• ment laws and practices such as providing widows, but not • widowers, survivor’s benefits based on their spouses’ contri• -• butions to Social Security; granting men control over marital • property; providing welfare benefits to a family when a father, • but not a mother, was unemployed; and excluding women • from public military colleges were struck down

Annotated Resources

1. www.idahostatesman.com/2013/03/26/2508054/sally-reed-lived-here-marker.html This site gave me specific details about Sally

and Skip’s life2.

http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1971/1971_70_4

This site was helpful for indications of the ground breaking nature of this case

Annotated Resources

• http://www.nwlc.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/r4_factsheet_reedvreed.pdf

• This site was sympathetic toward the plaintiff and the woman Reed. Her son died at her estranged husband’s house.

• http://www.nwlc.org/our-blog/reed-v-reed-40-landmark-decision National Woman law Center site.

Sally Reed rights a wrong

WOULDJA??