INSTRUCTIONS FOR ASSIGNMENT #1 AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR EXTRA CREDITIDENTIFY THE PARTS OF A COURT OPINION

In this assignment, read the recent U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) opinion in Bostock v. Clayton County.  The following questions will guide you through the process.  The point of this exercise is two-fold: 1) identify the parts of a court opinion; 2) see how much relative space is normally devoted to each part.

You are not expected to digest the content of case.  This assignment is just to show you that court opinions are structured.

  • the caption is a fraction of the page to one page;
  • the summary varies from a fraction of the page to two pages;
  • the issue is one sentence to one paragraph;
  • the rule is one paragraph to one page;
  • the analysis is many pages;
  • the conclusion is one or two sentences to one page;
  • the decision (the “bottom line”) is typically one sentence.

Questions regarding the Case

Find the following parts of the case, by answering the questions below.  An answer sheet is provided.  Please use it — for our mutual convenience!  When citing from the case, always use the page numbers from the case.

  1. Citation: Normally on the first page. [See Miller, Chapter 1, Exhibit 1-5, for formatting guidelines.  Hint:  It is usually found in the header at the top of each page.]
  2. Who is involved in the case?
    1. Parties: Who petitioned the Supreme Court (the Petitioner)?  Who is responding to the appeal (Respondent)?  [Hint:  Normally found near the top of the first page.  The Petitioner may be the plaintiff OR the defendant.  The Respondent will be the opposing party to the Petitioner.  The “case name” is π Δ.  You can abbreviate the case name to Bostock v. Clayton County or Bostock.]
    2. Who heard the case? The name of the court and the names of the justices.  [Hint: Normally found in the caption at the beginning of the opinion.  The Court is often just above or just below the case name.  The names of the justices (or judges) usually found on the first page below the case name.  However, in this slip opinion, it is found after the case summary and before the “opinion of the court”.]
  3. Where is the summary of the case? The summary has NO legal effect.  It is provided for convenience only.  [Hint:  Normally found right after the caption and before the court opinion itself.]
  4. Background: [Hint:  The Background, Relevant Facts and Procedural History normally are found at the beginning of the case.  Usually it is Background followed by  Relevant Facts and Procedural History though sometimes the Procedural History is before the Relevant Facts.]
  5. Relevant facts? Where are the relevant facts found for this case?  [Hint:  These are the events which happened outside the courtroom.]
  6. Procedural History? Where is the history of what happened in the courts below? [Hint:  These are the events which happened inside the courtroom, such as the ruling of the lower courts.]
  7. Standard of Review? Usually there is a heading “Standard of Review”.  However, in this case, search for “standard of review”.

In general, at the trial level, the standard of review in criminal cases is “beyond a reasonable doubt” and in civil cases “preponderance of the evidence”.  On appeal, the standard of review is often high for the facts and low for the law.  The assumption is that on appeal the hearing officers have not seen or heard the witnesses, so there should be great cause for factual findings of the trial court to be disturbed.  However, the judges at the higher levels often know the law better than at the lower court, so interpretations of the law can be reviewed de novo (like new).

  1. Issue: What is the specific facts and/or law that is in dispute?  [Hint:  The word “whether” is nearly always used in the sentence to describe the specific facts and/or law that is the focus of the appeal.  The issue is found before the analysis, so the reader is focused on the issue while reading the analysis.  In this case, it includes “whether” and id found shortly after the case summary.]
  2. Alleged Error by the Court: To appeal you must identify the alleged error made by the court(s) below. Where does the Supreme Court discuss the error(s) made in the court(s) below?  [Hint:  This is an unusual case, because it is a review of three lower-court cases.  In this case, the “error” is that the three courts, given very similar facts, arrived at different conclusions.]
  3. The Analysis is where the court discusses the rule of law and the facts of this case to resolve the issue and address/correct the error made by the court(s) below. [Hint:  The Analysis usually takes many pages.  Subissues are raised, the Court applies the rule for the subissue, analyzes the application of the rule to the facts of the case, and comes to a conclusion on the subissue.  then on to the next subissue until every subissue is IRAC – Issue, Rule, Analysis (Application), Conclusion.]
  4. Conclusion: Where is the conclusion of the Court?  [Hint:  This is usually found at the end of the analysis — near the end of the case.  Sometime the court helps you out by giving you a heading or by saying, “The Court concludes …”.  Sometimes you have to hunt.  I find it easier to go to the end of the opinion, and work backwards.  The conclusion is usually just before the decisoin.]
  5. Decision: The Court will end by giving instruction as to what should happen next, judicially speaking.  It may reverse the decision of the court below; it may uphold the decision of the court below; it may remand (which means to send the case back to the lower court) for further findings.
  6. Table for the Parts of the Case: Now that you have identified all the parts, note how much space was devoted to each by pages and percent?

 

Part of the Case Pages # of Pages % of Pages
·         Citation
·         Who’s involved
·         Case Summary
·         Background
·         Relevant Facts
·         Procedural History
·         Standard of Review
·         Alleged error
·         Issue
·         Rule
·         Analysis
·         Conclusion
·         Decision
Total      

 

Questions regarding “Extra Credit”:

You have a real opportunity to pick up extra credit, which you can bank now to be applied at the end of the course.

  1. As part of the factual background, the court goes into great detail about the history of education in Hawai‘i, with particular focus on education taught exclusively in Hawaiian.
  2. There are two opinions issued in this case in addition to the “Opinion of the Court”. Read one or both of these short opinions, and give your opinion on the opinion.  The more your do, the more extra credit you earn.

Opinion #1

  1. Caption:
  • Authored by: Who wrote this opinion?
  • Joined by: Did any of the other justices join in the opinion?
  • Relationship to opinion of the court: What is the relationship of this opinion to the majority opinion issued by the court? Did the author “Dissent”, “Concur , “Concur in part”, etc.?)
  1. Summary of the points made in this opinion:  Simply summarize the points made in this opinion, save any compare and contrast for the next question.
  2. How does this opinion differ from the court opinion?  Identify where this opinion disagrees with the majority.  (There must be a disagreement, or the justice would not author a separate opinion.)
  3. Which reasoning do you prefer, i.e., do you agree more with the reasoning given by the court OR the opinion from the justice in the separate opinion?  Let me know which opinion you prefer and explain why you prefer one opinion over the other.

Opinion #2

  1. Caption:
  • Authored by: Who wrote this opinion?
  • Joined by: Did any of the other justices join in the opinion?
  • Relationship to opinion of the court: What is the relationship of this opinion to the majority opinion issued by the court? Did the author “Dissent”, “Concur , “Concur in part”, etc.?)
  1. Summary of the points made in this opinion:  Simply summarize the points made in this opinion, save any compare and contrast for the next question.
  2. How does this opinion differ from the court opinion?  Identify where this opinion disagrees with the majority.  (There must be a disagreement, or the justice would not author a separate opinion.)
  3. Which reasoning do you prefer, i.e., do you agree more with the reasoning given by the court OR the opinion from the justice in the separate opinion?  Let me know which opinion you prefer and explain why you prefer one opinion over the other.

 

 

 

 

  1. Here is another fun extra credit assignment. The nine justices are listed below.  For each justice, provide the relevant information asked for in the table below.  Give the name and title of the justice, such as, Justice Ruth Bade-Ginsberg.  Give the year each justice was were appointed, the US president who made the appointment, and law school attended.  If you poke around a bit on the internet, you can find all this info on one handy site.

 

 

JUSTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATED (SCOTUS)
 
Name
Year
President
Law School
Name
Year
President
Law School
Name
Year
President
Law School