Well-informed citizens understand the impact of the most important court cases relating to issues that concern them. Fortunately, finding this information is really easy these days--as easy as visiting your favorite search engine. One of the first links you're likely to see in the search results will take you to the case's Wikipedia entry. Wikipedia can be a great place to start understanding the background of the case and final decisions, but you should be sure to compare what you learn there to how the case is described on other sites.
Follow the steps below to identify and research a Supreme Court case related to a specific issue.
| Search | Go to your favorite search engine and enter “court cases related to” and the name of the issue you have been studying during other lessons in this module. Remember to look for reliable sources of information. Identify one or two of the most important looking cases. |
| Select Sources | Identify reliable sources that explain the key issues and opinions in the cases using what you have learned in this course about evaluating the credibility of sources. |
| Background | Read about several court cases related to the issue you selected. |
Click the Activity button below to download a worksheet that will help you analyze some Supreme Court cases related to specific issues. You will complete this worksheet as you work through the rest of this lesson. For now, complete the section labeled Part 1: Identify Cases.
