Activity
Lesson 1: (one period) Introduce the Moot Court Activity
Explain that trial courts are different from appellate
courts:
- Following
a trial, the losing party may challenge the results
of the case in a higher court
- Justices
study written briefs that were prepared
by the lawyers from each side
- Appellate
courts hear oral arguments
- Justices
review the record of the case from the lower court
- No
witnesses are called in appellate trials
*
Teacher may want to make a hand out entitled “The
Appeals Process” from: http://www.uscourts.gov/understand02/content_6_5.html
for the students to read and discuss.
Tell
students that they are going to participate in a moot
court activity that will involve an appeal from a lower
court.
Discuss the Moot Court Procedures that follow:
1. 7 students will be assigned to each case:
a.
2 lawyers for the petitioner (the loser in the trial
court)
b. 2 lawyers for the respondent (the winner in
the trial court)
c. 3 justices on the appeals court (1 chief justice
and 2 associate justices)
2.
Lawyers will prepare written briefs that will be sent
to the appellate court prior to giving
oral arguments. Students
learned how to write briefs in English class during the
beginning of the quarter.
3.
Justices assigned to the case will be expected to read
the briefs and prepare
questions that they will ask the
lawyers during the presentations of oral arguments.
4.
Each side will have 10 minutes to make their case during
oral arguments.
5.
Lawyers should expect to be interrupted with questions
from the justices
6.
After the oral arguments have concluded, the justices
will deliberate and make their decision.
a.
One of the justices in the majority will write the majority
opinion
of the court.
b. The second justice who votes with the majority
will write a concurring opinion.
c. One justice will write a dissenting opinion
-
If there is a majority decision, each justice can write
his/her own decision or the Chief Justice can select one student
to write the majority opinion (this is up to
the teacher).
7.
In preparing their cases, lawyers should consider:
a.
What does each side (party) want?
b. Which arguments would be most persuasive for
your position?
c. What are the legal precedents and
how do they influence this particular
case? (look
for arguments
that were
successful in previous cases)
d. What might be the consequences if
the justices choose your position?
8.
In deciding the case, justices should consider:
a.
Legal reasoning
b. Reference to court precedents
c. Their personal ideology
9.
Possible outcomes of the appellate court. Justices may:
a.
Reverse the lower court’s
decision and remand the case
for a new trial
b. Reverse the decision of
the lower court and render
a judgment that
they believe the
trial
court should
have handed down.
c. Affirm the decision of
the lower court (they found
no error
in the
lower court’s decision).
Handout “Moot
Court Instructions” to the students (hand-out A).
Make
Team Assignments:
Students can number off by four’s or draw cards. If
students draw cards, use the following procedure:
Clubs=
Team A
Spades=
Team B
Hearts=
Team C
Diamonds=
Team D |
Face
Cards King, Queen and Jack are justices
Numbers Red= Attorney for Petitioner
Numbers Black= Attorney for Respondent |
- The
teacher must prepare the cards so that the teams
turn out correctly.
- The
number of justices can be adapted to accommodate classes
larger than 28.
Lesson
2: (2 periods) Explore possible cases for moot court.
1. Students will work with their teams to investigate
cases that have been appealed to gain an understanding
of the
types of cases heard by appellate justices.
2.
Tell students they will investigate cases that have been
appealed to the federal Courts
of Appeals.
Explain
that the
94 federal districts are divided into 12
circuits, each having a Court of Appeals. Using the map
at http://www.uscourts.gov/images/CircuitMap.pdf assign each team, 3
regional circuits to investigate. Suggested
assignments:
Team A: 1, 2, 3 and 12 Team C: 7, 8
Team B: 4, 5, 6 and D.C. Team D: 9,10
and 11
3.
Students should be given the following instructions when
they go to the computer
lab:
a.
You and your team will work together to search for cases
that have been appealed
to courts within
your assigned
circuits.
b. To search for cases within your circuit:
Go
to: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casesummary/index.html select “environmental
law” under legal topic. Click “search”.
c.
Record the following information to take back to
the classroom:
i.
Name of Case and Date of appeal
ii. Location: Where does the case take place? And
which circuit?
iii. What was the issue?
d.
As you conduct your search also look for cases
that your team may want to use
for the moot court
activity.
The case
must involve
an environmental
health
issue and contain sufficient background
information to complete the moot
court assignment. Record the names of
your top 3 choices on a sheet of paper (name
of case; U.S. v. Templeton)
e.
Meet with your team to discuss the cases you looked
at and turn
in your team’s
top three choices by the end of the period.
The teacher should look over the cases to make sure
that there are no duplications among teams. If possible,
assign
each team their first choice; making
sure that the case deals with an environmental health
issue and provides enough background material for them
to use in preparing
briefs and oral arguments.
Lesson
2 (part 2) (one period)
1. Post a large map of the United States in front of the
room.
2.
Provide each team with straight pins (if possible pins
with different colored heads so that each team has a
different
color for each circuit).
3.
Have each team place a pin for each case they found within
their circuit on the map
in the appropriate geographic
region.
4.
Ask the class to look for patterns. In what regions are
most of the cases appealed? What inferences
can you
make?
5.
Give each team sheets of butcher paper and markers. On
each sheet of butcher paper have students
write
the number
of the circuit appeals court and then list the names
and types of cases that were heard by that court.
For example:
Circuit 8 (U.S. v. Templeton-Clean Water Act). Each
group will share their findings with the rest of
the class.
6.
After all of the groups have presented ask the class
to comment on any additional patterns that
they observe:
are
there any issues that are more common in one region
than another? Are there any regions of the country
that seem
to have more litigation cases than others? Why
do they think
this is? Closure
The teacher should conclude the lesson by assigning the cases that each group
will use for their moot court activity. Tell students that they should
read the background of their assigned case. Tell them to not to focus
on the appeals court’s actual decision as they are going to argue
their own case before a different group of justices and therefore may
get a different decision.
Homework
Lawyers must write briefs using the guidelines listed in Handout A and bring
2 copies (one for the justices and one for the teacher) to class prior
to their assigned moot court date. The deadline should be 4-5 days prior
to the moot court so that the justices have time to read the briefs and
prepare questions for the oral arguments.
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