Supreme Court

Consider what you have learned about the power and impact of the U.S. Supreme Court from the textbook and other sources to write a 650 (+/-10%) word essay that addresses the following question: “Is the Judiciary still the “weakest branch of government”?

Your essay should:

• Briefly consider why the Supreme Court was considered the “weakest branch of government”
  • when was it considered “weak”? why did they think that?

• Identify a major Supreme Court holding (ruling) from the last 20 yearsto demonstrate the power (or lack of power) of the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Use the S. Courts (Links to an external site.)or Oyez (Links to an external site.) to find a relevant case (must be from the last 20 years (ie no case before 2001 will be accepted).

• Briefly explain what the hold was in that case
  • what does the decision say? why was it an important decision?

• In the bulk of your paper: construct a well-supported paper to evaluate if the U.S. Supreme Court is still the weakest branch of government
  • your use of compelling evidence to explain and support your conclusions will be important in the evaluation of your essay.