2014 Supreme Court Case Summaries & Teaching Materials

If you couldn’t join us this summer for our Supreme Court Summer Institute in Washington, DC, do not fear—we have resources from the Institute available here!

The case summaries from the 2014 term were compiled by Street Law’s Lee Arbetman, Megan Hanson, and Rachel Morris, our law student-in-residence. Access to these materials is free.

New Case Summaries

• Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014): Do two closely held for-profit businesses have religious freedom rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that are violated by a federal requirement to provide employees with health insurance that covers contraception?
• Riley v. California (2014): Does a warrantless search of a suspect’s cell phone incident to an arrest of the suspect violate the Fourth Amendment?
• McCullen v. Coakley (2014): Do fixed buffer zones around abortion clinics violate the First Amendment rights of protestors?
• McCutcheon v. FEC (2014): Do federal limits on aggregate contributions to political committees and candidates violate the First Amendment?
• Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014): May a town board open its meetings with a sectarian prayer?
• Fernandez v. California (2014): Does the Fourth Amendment prohibit warrantless searches of a home when a tenant has previously objected, but is no longer present, and co-tenant consents?

Lessons and Activities

Case Study Examples: Texas v. Johnson – four examples of different case study strategies using the same case. Case studies are a great way to explore legal issues and Supreme Court cases with students, and the different activities build different skills and can scaffold toward more intensive activities like a moot court.

Freedom of Religion Activity: Applying Precedents to new Hypotheticals – explore some of the religious freedom issues at the heart of this term’s biggest cases.

How do Judges Interpret the Constitution? – Lesson Plan – Street Law’s activities for teaching about the judicial philosophies known as originalism and living constitution.