Bring SCOTUS into Your Classroom this School Year

This year Street Law is bringing SCOTUS to your classroom! We’ll choose three of the most classroom-relevant, student-friendly cases being argued at the high court this term and help you conduct moot courts of each.

Mooting a current case can provide a great tie-in to your curriculum, while highlighting current, newsworthy events. Additionally, moot courts are an effective strategy for generating deep student understanding of the Constitution; building analytical, persuasive, and public speaking skills; and for keeping students engaged. Moot courts are also a great way to meet the Common Core!

Here’s how our SCOTUS in the Classroom project works:

• One month out: We’ll let you know what case is coming and when it’s being argued at the Court.
• Two weeks out: We’ll have a classroom-ready case summary up on our website.
• Week of oral argument: Hold moot courts in your classroom! You’ll be able to find instructions, handouts, assessment ideas, and more on our website.
• Friday after the argument: The court will release audio recordings of the real-life argument. We’ll let you know when they’re out, and you and your students can compare their arguments to the lawyers’ performance. We’ll also let you know when the case is decided and provide a student-friendly summary of the court’s decision.

Case #1: Heien v. North Carolina (October 6, 2014)

The first case was argued on October 6! In Heien v. North Carolina, the Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether police officers violated the Fourth Amendment when they stopped and searched a car based on a mistaken interpretation of the law. They pulled a driver over because one brake light was out (thinking that was a violation of the law), then searched the car and found illegal drugs. However, in North Carolina it’s not illegal to drive with one brake light out. Did the police violate the Fourth Amendment, even though they made a reasonable mistake about the law?