hist.g8.s.civ.supreme_court_process_judicial_review_civil_rights
Apply DEEP G8 understanding of Supreme Court process: cert + briefs + oral argument + conference + opinion-assignment + majority/concurring/dissenting + judicial review applied to civil-rights cases
Trace 9-stage SCOTUS process per MG-22: (1) Cert petition (Rule of Four — 4 of 9 Justices); (2) Briefs on the merits + amicus curiae briefs; (3) Oral argument (30 minutes each side; questioning + interruption); (4) Justice Conference (Friday after oral; Chief Justice speaks first; junior Justice votes first); (5) Opinion assignment (majority by Chief if in majority, by senior associate if not); (6) Draft opinions circulate (majority + concurring + dissenting); (7) Cite-checking + final edits; (8) Announcement from bench (majority author oral summary); (9) Published U.S. Reports + Federal Reporter + Supreme Court Reporter + L.Ed.2d; named landmark cases applied to civil rights: Marbury v. Madison 5 U.S. 137 (1803) judicial review; Plessy v. Ferguson 163 U.S. 537 (1896) + Harlan dissent 'Our Constitution is color-blind'; Korematsu v. United States 323 U.S. 214 (1944) + Murphy dissent; Brown v. Board 347 U.S. 483 (1954) unanimous Warren Court; Loving v. Virginia 388 U.S. 1 (1967); Tinker v. Des Moines 393 U.S. 503 (1969); Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113 (1973); Lawrence v. Texas 539 U.S. 558 (2003); Obergefell v. Hodges 576 U.S. 644 (2015); Shelby County v. Holder 570 U.S. 529 (2013); Trump v. Hawaii 138 S. Ct. 2392 (2018); Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard 600 U.S. 181 (2023); Dobbs v. Jackson 597 U.S. 215 (2022); iCivics 'Court Quest' + 'Argument Wars' applied; mock-Supreme-Court oral argument simulation enacted in Lesson 20.
- Apply DEEP G8 understanding of how a bill becomes a law: 14-stage process with House + Senate + Conference Committee + presidential action + override — via mock-Congress simulation
- Analyze the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments as the SECOND FOUNDING (Foner 2019) — abolishing slavery + establishing birthright citizenship + equal protection + due process + prohibiting racial discrimination in voting
No declared successors.
- Treating the Supreme Court as solely 'final word' — judicial review is a power asserted not enumerated; Congress + Executive can respond (Reconstruction Amendments overturned Dred Scott; Civil Rights Act 1991 corrected Wards Cove; constitutional amendment overturns rare)
- Treating SCOTUS as politically neutral — Justices have legal philosophies (originalism + textualism + living constitutionalism + structuralism) and nomination is political process
- Forgetting concurrences + dissents — dissents often presage future majorities (Harlan 1896 → Warren 1954)