Prescott Library: United States History (2024-25): Courts & Cases

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Help Reading Court Cases

Possible topics

Here's a list of cases that have recently been decided and/or are frequently chosen.

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Wendy Gustavel

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Key Question

In the Supreme Court case you choose, how did the Supreme Court weigh/balance individual rights against other competing (governmental) interests?

Consider:

What rights are relevant to your case? Why would the courts want to protect those rights?
Is there a "governmental interest" that conflicts with an individual's rights?
What are the competing interests? Why must the Court take those into account?
What decision(s) did the Court make?

Start here:

Find the full text:

Find the full text of your case here. Add your case name (ex. Tinker v Des Moines) into this Google search bar to find the full text of your case at Cornell's Legal Information Institute (LII). If that doesn't work, try one of the other links.

First Amendment Court Cases

Learn more about your case:

Remember, you must find a case that has at least one DISSENTING opinion.

Additional resources

Delve a little further:

Head to these sources when ready to hear other interpretations of your case and the issues involved.

History Reference Center
History Reference Center offers full text from more than 1,620 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books, cover to cover full text for more than 150 leading history periodicals, nearly 57,000 historical documents, more than 78,000 biographies of historical figures, more than 113,000 historical photos and maps, and more than 80 hours of historical video.

Milestone Documents in American History
Primary texts from documents related to key events in US history are included in this resource as well as document analysis. This site also makes Milestone Documents in World History available.