This collection helps students explore constitutional questions around the First Amendment, the equal protection clause and affirmative action, with a focus on the intersection of history and current debates.
Interactive Timeline: 25 Supreme Court Cases That Shape Our World Today
This interactive timeline explores twenty-five Supreme Court cases that shape our world today. Students can review the required cases in the AP Government curriculum, among others. Many of the cases are accompanied by a Retro Report short doc, which delves into the story of the case and its connection to today.
Book Bans, Student Rights and a Fractured Supreme Court Ruling
In the 1970s, high school student Steven Pico challenged his Long Island school board after it removed books, including “Slaughterhouse-Five” and “Down These Mean Streets,” from his school library. Pico argued that the bans violated students’ First Amendment rights, and his lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court.
How the Supreme Court Ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges Legalized Same-Sex Marriage
This story revisits the landmark Supreme Court decision from the perspective of the two named participants, Jim Obergefell and Richard Hodges. The court ruled 5 to 4 that the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause requires all states to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples.
How Tinker v. Des Moines Established Students’ Free Speech Rights
In 1965, a simple black armband became a powerful symbol of student free speech. But when the students were suspended by the Des Moines school board for their silent protest, their fight for expression went all the way to the Supreme Court.
How Gun Violence and the Supreme Court Have Shaped Second Amendment Rights
Supreme Court rulings on gun laws reflect an ongoing national debate over how to balance individual rights and public safety. This video considers the perspectives of gun rights advocates, scholars, and those pressing for stricter firearms regulation as it explores how the court has reinterpreted the Second Amendment.
As SCOTUS Examines School Prayer, Families Behind a Landmark Ruling Speak Out
Ruling in favor of a high school coach who knelt to pray on the football field, the Supreme Court opened the door to challenges on school prayer, 60 years after a landmark ruling in Engel v. Vitale.
Why Supreme Court Confirmations Have Become So Bitter
Supreme Court nominations have changed since the defeat of Robert Bork – recent SCOTUS nominations have yielded bitter battles and guarded answers.
*These materials are sponsored in part by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Eastern Region Program, coordinated by Waynesburg University.
How a 1944 Supreme Court Ruling on Internment Camps Led to a Reckoning
The U.S. government ordered 120,000 people of Japanese descent, most American citizens, imprisoned during World War II. An admission of wrongdoing and reparations payments came decades later, but a Supreme Court ruling had lasting impact.
The Civil Rights Movement Expands: Busing
Why did the U.S. Supreme Court authorize the use of cross-town busing to accelerate school desegregation, and how did that decision affect communities and students in the American South? This video clarifies why landmark decisions like Brown v. Board of Education often required additional efforts to achieve integration.
In the Long Fight to Protect Native American Families, a Law Stands Guard
For generations, Native American children were removed from their homes and placed with white families. A recent Supreme Court ruling affirms the rights of Native families and tribes, giving them preference in adoption and foster care placement.
Why the Supreme Court Endorsed, Then Limited Affirmative Action
The Supreme Court has rejected the consideration of race as a factor in colleges’ efforts to create a diverse student body. For decades, the court upheld race-based affirmative action in college admissions, most recently in a ruling in 2016.
Presidents v. Press: How the Pentagon Papers Leak Set Up First Amendment Showdowns
Focusing on the broader issues of freedom of the press in a democracy, the video helps students draw a line between the New York Times decision from 1971 and the ongoing disputes between the public’s right to know and the president’s right to secrecy.
How Watergate and Citizens United Shaped Campaign Finance Law
The Watergate scandal exposed a network of secret fundraising and illegal campaign donations. Laws aimed at reducing financial abuses have had little or no effect on big money’s influence on politics. Decades later, some say the scandal isn’t what’s illegal, it’s what’s legal.
Gerrymandering Tilts Political Power. Here’s How Redistricting Affects Democracy.
Every decade, states engage in redistricting, the redrawing of congressional and state legislative boundaries, after the release of new census data. This process often becomes politicized, with district lines drawn to create partisan advantages and disadvantages, a tactic known as gerrymandering.
Bush v. Gore: How a Recount Dispute Affects Voting Today
The recount of votes in Florida during the 2000 election focused worldwide attention on the country’s antiquated and disorganized voting system. The controversy led to sweeping voting reforms, but opened the door to a new set of problems that continue to affect elections today.
Raising Doubts about Evolution… in Science Class
How did an anti-evolution think tank convince Louisiana’s state government to change how evolution was taught, and how did one high school student wage a campaign to oppose these changes? This video explores how policy disputes over teaching evolution have been shaped by the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause.
Trump and Biden Both Want to Repeal Section 230. Would That Wreck the Internet?
Today’s heated political arguments over censorship and misinformation online are rooted in Section 230, a 26-word snippet of a 1996 law that created the Internet as we know it. Now lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want it changed.
From Courtroom to Classroom: SCOTUS Webinar
This webinar focuses on using primary sources to examine the stories behind Supreme Court cases. It covers the SCOTUS confirmation process, the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, and school desegregation. It includes: free lessons and materials, short lectures from court scholars, Retro Report videos and guidance on incorporating the narratives into your curriculum.
“Should Admissions Be Colorblind?” Tools for Teaching Supreme Court Cases Webinar
Along with our partners and co-hosts, Street Law, this webinar helps teachers navigate Supreme Court decisions in general, but with a special focus on affirmative action and the ongoing impact of the 1944 Korematsu decision.
