U.S. Court System Look Book

Hello from the land of the Judicial Branch!  We started our study of the national judicial branch in room 207 a week ago.  After we discussed the court system with the column notes the kids made a look book.  So here is the finished product and then I'll walk you through the "construction" process.

First you will need two sheets of notebook paper.  Turn them portrait style and take one and fold it not quite in half.  You will want to leave about two inches between the two ends.  Then take the other paper and fold it so there are now four places to write your titles on.  I'm sorry if this is confusing- hopefully the pictures work.  Here is a tutorial that may help you.

The top flap should be labeled "U.S. Courts" the picture to the right is the same picture from my column notes.  If you can't read the triangle the bottom layer is "U.S. District Court", the middle is "U.S. Court of Appeals" and then the top (or as I like to say in class- the pinnacle) of the triangle is "U.S. Supreme Court".

The next flap down is the U.S. Supreme Court.  The information inside is is answering Who, What, Where and How.

Who: Justices hear case, no jury
What: limited original, mostly appellate cases from U.S. Court of Appeals (you could get technical and add that cases come from state Supreme Courts but I chose not to do that)
Where: Washington, DC
How: U.S. Constitution sets up Supreme Court 

The next flap down is the U.S. Court of Appeals.  The information inside is answering those same questions.

Who: Judges hear cases, no jury
What: appellate cases from U.S. Circuit Court
Where: 12 Regions, we are 4, closest is in Roanoke (You may need to change this if you are in the eastern part of the state.  I am pretty sure that your court is in Richmond.  You can double check here.)
How: U.S. Constitution sets up U.S. Court of Appeals (Now, I know technically that the Constitution does not set up the lower inferior courts; however, they are set up by Congress, which is outlined in the Constitution.)

The bottom flap is the U.S. District Courts.  They will be answering those same questions.

Who: Judge hears case, sometimes has a jury
What: hears original Federal cases
Where: 94 Districts, Western District of Virginia is located in Roanoke (Again, you may need to double check and see where you locality is located.  You can do that by clicking here.)
How: U.S. Constitution sets up U.S. District Court (Again, same deal with the Appellate courts- Congress has authority to set them up but found in the Constitution).

Today, we read about the different Supreme Court Justices and answered questions.  Such questions included: Who is the oldest justice?  Who is the youngest justice?  How many were nominated by Democratic presidents?  How many were nominated by Republican presidents?  What happens after the judges are nominated?  

Then we started discussing four landmark Supreme Court cases: Marbury v. Madison, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education and Miranda v. Arizona.  I always enjoy the conversations that come from our discussions- especially about Plessy v. Ferguson and Miranda v. Arizona.

Tomorrow the kids are writing a RAFT about Marbury v. Madison.  They have to be sure to discuss the importance of the case (it set up judicial review, which is the check that the Supreme Court has over the other two branches).  They have a choice of writing a dialogue between a reporter and Supreme Court Justice, the case talking about itself (we reminded ourselves what personification is) and then their other choice is a text conversation between two siblings- a college age and a younger one where the older one is explaining the importance of the case.  I look forward to reading them tomorrow.

Happy Teachings!
C