Appellate Courts: Let’s Take It Up - Government

Appellate Courts: Let’s Take it Up** TEACHER GUIDE **School Strip Search!Savana Redding must have beenfurious when she lost her courtcase in the trial court. It all startedwhen someone told the schoolprincipal Savana was giving pills toother students. Even thoughSavana had never been in troublebefore and denied doing anything wrong, theprincipal ordered the school nurse and a femaleschool employee to search Savana. They tookSavana into a room and told her to take off herouter clothing and shake out her underwear.They didn’t find any pills.This was a real case. The pills wereprescription-strength Ibuprofen, a fact theSupreme Court ultimately said pointedaway from the search being reasonable,because of the pills’ relative lack ofdanger.The school personnel didn’t “see”anything, but Savana’s private areaswere briefly exposed.Savana believed her rights had been violated.After all, the Fourth Amendment to theConstitution is supposed to protect peopleagainst unreasonable searches. So Savana tookher case to court, arguing that the strip searchviolated her Fourth Amendment rights.4th Amendment: “The right of the peopleto be secure in their persons . . ., againstunreasonable searches and seizures,shall not be violated.”The trial court didn’t see it that way. The judgedecided the school had a right to conduct thesearch, based on two factors: 1) the school hada good reason to believe the search needed tobe done, and 2) the search did not go too far,considering that drugs are very serious.These factors come from a 1985 SupremeCourt case establishing that both factorsmust be true in order for a school’s searchof a student to be reasonable.Savana’s lawyer filed a written brief in the Courtof Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, arguing theschool did not have a good reason to conduct astrip search and that the search did go too far.Both lawyers went to court for an oralargument in front of a panel of three Court ofAppeals judges. Savana couldn’t tell the judgesher story, but she could sit in the courtroom andlisten. During the oral argument, her lawyerexplained his reasoning to the judges, and theypeppered him with questions to be sure theyunderstood his point of view.In private, the Court of Appeals judgesconsidered whether the trial court judge correctlyanalyzed the two factors. Two of the threejudges agreed that she did. They issued awritten opinion explaining their decision andgiving the judge who disagreed a chance toexplain his dissent. But it was two against one,so Savana lost again.Both sides file briefs supporting theirarguments. Appeals court judges read thebriefs carefully and are well-preparedwhen they arrive in court for oralargument.An oral argument is like a conversationbetween the judges and the lawyers.Savana’s lawyer would get to speak first fora set amount of minutes, then the school’slawyer would speak, then Savana’s lawyerwould have a few minutes to reply.The dissenting opinion is tacked on tothe end of the main opinion.Reading Guide p. 1

Appellate Courts: Let’s Take it UpEn banc ( pronounced “on bonk”) is aFrench phrase that means “on the bench.”In a circuit with a smaller number ofjudges, all the judges in the circuit re-hearthe case together. For example, theSecond Circuit has twelve active judges, allof whom sit on the en banc panel.Even in a case with substantially similarfacts, judges must follow precedent. If thefacts of a case were weaker or stronger,the judge would still have to use the sameanalysis but might be justified in coming toa different conclusion.The Supreme Court decision suggests thatif the pills had been more dangerous thanIbuprofen and there was reason to believeSavana was hiding them in her underwear,a strip search might have been reasonable.When the Supreme Court takes a case,that is called granting “certiorari.” (SIRshow-RAHR-ee) The Court gets over10,000 petitions for certiorari each year,but only grants about 100.The petition doubles as a brief arguing thepetitioner’s side of the case. The school’spetition was 37 pages long.Friend of the court briefs in this case werefiled by groups such as the NationalSchool Boards Association, for the school,and the American Society for AdolescentPsychiatry, for Savana.The opinion in Safford v. Redding wasissued on June 25, 2009.** TEACHER GUIDE **There was still hope. Savana’s lawyer took achance and asked for something that doesn’thappen very often: He asked all the Ninth Circuitjudges to reconsider the decision together. Theyagreed! It would be too crowded for all 48judges in the circuit to be in the courtroom, sothey chose eleven judges to sit on the en bancpanel and hear the case again. Everyone filedmore briefs, and there was a new oral argument.This time, Savana had six judges on her side.She won!But the school wasn’t giving up. It still believedthe first two courts had interpreted the lawcorrectly. Unless they kept fighting, the NinthCircuit decision would become a precedent: in afuture case with very similar facts as this one,judges in all Ninth Circuit states would have todecide in the student’s favor. The Court ofAppeals was not going to hear this case again,so the school only had one shot: the SupremeCourt.But there was a problem. Unlike the Court ofAppeals, the Supreme Court gets to choosewhich cases to take—and most get rejected. TheSupreme Court only listens to cases with veryimportant issues. If the Supreme Court rejectedthis case, the Court of Appeals decision would befinal.The school filed a petition asking the SupremeCourt to take the case. It worked! The lawyersfiled more briefs. Groups who cared about thecase filed friend of the court briefs in supportof Savana or the school. There was one final oralargument where each lawyer spoke in front of allnine Supreme Court justices, who fired toughquestions about how the law applied in the case.Afterward, weeks passed. Finally, the Courtissued a written opinion. Although the Courtfound that the school had a good reason tobelieve a search should be done,the Court said that a strip searchwent too far. Savana won!Because she decided to take hercase “up” as far as it would go,this Supreme Court decision isnow precedent for everyone inthe country.Reading Guide p. 2

Appellate Courts: Let’s Take it Up** TEACHER GUIDE **True/False Active Participation ActivityRead each statement to the class. Have students answer “true” or “false” as a chorus or showyou thumbs-up for true or thumbs-down for false. Pause to discuss each answer.True or false 1. Lawyers don’t have to file any kind of paperwork at the Court of Appeals.F2. To ask the Supreme Court to take your case, you file a petitionT3. A panel of three judges in the Court of Appeals is called an “en banc” panel.F4. Higher courts use totally different factors to judge a case than the lower court used.F5. There are nine justices on the Supreme Court.T6. The Court of Appeals only hears a case en banc in very important situations.T7. In an oral argument, the lawyers yell at each other and while the judges listen.F8. The Court of Appeals must take every case appealed to it.T9. A precedent case acts like a law for future cases with very similar facts.T10. The Supreme Court must take every case appealed to it.FSentence Matching Cards (Answers)1. The Court of Appeals does not hold a trial all over again because trials are for finding out whathappened, and the Court of Appeals decides whether the lower court judge correctly applied the law.2. The Court of Appeals must accept every case because people have an automatic right of appeal aftera decision is made in trial court. This helps ensure that the law is applied correctly.3. Decisions from the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court are precedent for new casesbecause precedent cases help people know what to expect. Otherwise, judges could make wildly differentdecisions in very similar cases.4. Cases in the appellate courts are heard by more than one judge because appellate court decisionsare precedent for many people, so it’s important to have more than one judge think about the decisions.5. Oral argument is an important part of an appeal because it allows the appeals court judges orSupreme Court justices to ask specific questions about the case.6. The Supreme Court does not have to take every case that comes along because there are toomany petitions for one court to hear.7. Cases decided by the Supreme Court are particularly important because its decisions affect thewhole country by setting precedent for similar cases in all the lower courts.8. If someone wins or loses a Supreme Court case, another person with a similar case will notautomatically win or lose because the other person’s case might have special facts that make itdifferent from the Supreme Court case.9. People do not get to testify at the Supreme Court because testifying is a way of telling whathappened, and the Supreme Court does not decide what happened. It only decides whether the Court ofAppeals judges made the right decision.Active Participation Guide

Appellate Courts: Let’s Take it Up** TEACHER GUIDE **A. Compare! Decide whether each description fits courts of appeal only, Supreme Court only, or both,and write the letter of the description in the correct part of the diagram. The first one is done for you.NFAJHGEIDKBMLCXA. There is no juryG. Has nine justicesB. Judges are called “justices”H. Lawyers file briefsC. Issues a written opinionI. There is an oral argumentD. Must take all casesM. Requires a majority voteof judges to winJ. Decisions are precedent onlywithin the circuitN. Decisions are precedentfor the whole countryK. Gets to choose which cases totakeBONUS: Always sits en banc(use the letter X)E. Receives friend of the courtbriefsF. Usually has three-judge panelsL. Judges ask the lawyersquestionsB. Draw! Use what you learned about each court to draw the inside of the courtrooms.(Students should show three judges,two lawyers, and may show otheraspects of the courtroom such asobservers.)(Students should show ninejustices, two lawyers, and mayshow other aspects of thecourtroom such as observers.)Worksheet p.1

Appellate Courts: Let’s Take it UpC. Appellate Court Crossword. Use what youhave learned about the Court of Appeals and theSupreme Court to complete this crossword activity.Go back to the reading if you get 15IT RIAPLCR5OCE16FITT11YQU9P R1EE12** TEACHER GUIDE **O UR10R LNIDown1. Briefs filed by groups that care aboutOhow a case turns outN3. Written document a lawyer files with thecourt to explain his or her arguments4. Appellate court judges ask these during oralargument7. The Fourth Amendment protects against thiskind of search10. What happens to most cases appealed to theSupreme Court11. Written document asking the Supreme Court totake a case; doubles as a brief13. Lawyers take turns making arguments to thejudges and answering the judges’ questions14. A group of several judges who hear a casetogether16. Written document issued by the courtexplaining the reasoning behind its decisionBNNANT HORGUMEAcrossN2. The person who representssomeone in courtT5. All the judges from an appealscircuit (or a large group of them) hearing a caseagain to reconsider the decision6. The highest court you can appeal to8. A separate opinion written by a judge who doesnot agree with the majority of the judges9. The Supreme Court only hears cases with thiskind of issue12. A decision made by an appellate court that actsas a law to cases with very similar facts15. The court where a case begins17. A Court of Appeals often has this many judgesin the courtroomWorksheet p.2

Appellate Courts: Let’s Take it Up** TEACHER GUIDE **D. Why Is It That Way? Explain each fact by correctly matching it with a reason. Write the number of thereason in the correct box of the magic square below.How to Use the Magic Square:Match statements and reasons above.Write the numbers of the correctanswers in the boxes next to the letters.To check your answers, add the rowsacross and down. All rows and columnswill add up to the same number.MagicNumber:15ADG951Magic SquareBC4EF3HI8276Worksheet p.3

Appellate Courts: Let’s Take It Up Learning Objectives. Students will be able to: Explain the purpose of the appellate courts. Describe how appellate courts work. Compare the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Define the following terms: precedent, opinion, dissent, brief, oral argument, en banc, petition.