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TVR 31200 Hit Man Hypo Supreme Court Justices
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In spite of your exceedingly busy docket, you have granted cert. to Paladin Enterprises, whose attorneys intend to argue that the First Amendment protects them from any liability (the claim of aiding and abetting) associated with the murder of Mildred Horn, Trevor Horn and Janice Saunders.
First, as members of the Supreme Court, you will need to appoint a Chief Justice to oversee the Court and guide the oral arguments. The Chief Justice will assign the preparatory research for the group and assign the research and write-up of each portion of the Court's opinion. He/she will schedule meetings as needed for the Court to discuss questions before the oral argument and to prepare the opinion afterwards.
All justices should prepare for the oral arguments by reading as much background information as possible on the case history, including earlier decisions. It is critical that all justices come to the oral arguments well prepared, and able to anticipate the issues and First Amendment claims that will be raised. All justices should have a good understanding of the limits of the First Amendment (if any) in this particular situation. All justices will be expected to ask questions of the appellants and appellees. The Chief Justice will guide the questionning to insure all justices have opportunities to ask their questions.
You will ask any relevant questions you want during the oral arguments. You are, after all, the Supremes.
You each will be responsible for preparing a portion of the Court's opinion on the case. We will meet immediately after the oral arguments to structure the write up process and get an informal vote of the Court. You will meet at least once as a group on your own time to finalize the Court's vote and opinion write-up responsibilities. Members of the Court must work together to craft the court's majority opinion, and any dissenting or concurring opinions if they emerge through the vote and discussion. Justices will deliver to the Chief Justice a portion of the oral argument that was assigned with enough lead time to allow the CJ to prepare the final document. Writing style and format must be agreed on before the contributions are written up to facilitate the Chief Justice compilation of all the arguments into a single coherent opinion. The Chief Justice will turn in one hard copy of the Court's opinion and email me an electronic copy before class on the due date (MS Word document, please) so I can post the Court's decision on the course website. In addition, each individual's contribution to the opinion must be turned in on the due date so that I can assess who contributed what, whether their arguments were rigorous enough and well-documented enough to use in the final opinion and whether the contribution followed a consistent writing and formatting style to facilitate the Chief Justice's final compilation.
Each member of the group will fill out a group evaluation form, assessing the level of each person's contribution to to collaborative effort. Failing to turn in a properly and fully completed group evaluation form on time is a lost up to10 points.
Each person will be graded individually. The grade will be based on the overall quality of the group's work (both before and during the oral arguments and based on the individual contribution to the opinion as well as the overall opinion of the Court). Lack of involvement in the group work as discerned from the anonymous peer evaluations will adversely impact an individual's grade. The rest is assigned based on individual performance.
If you are interested (and you should be...), the text of the "Hitman" book can currently be found at http://ftp.die.net/mirror/hitman/
Grading Rubric:
The grade is assigned as follows (total 150 points):
Individual preparation for and active engagement in oral arguments : 50 points for Associate Justices; 75 points for the Chief Justice
Evidence for assessing this portion of the grade will be largely determined by the quality of questions asked in the oral arguments (as evidence of active engagement and as evidence that the individual researched the issues ahead of time. I also will consult the peer evals to determine that an individual's contribution to the preparation was equitable, collegial and pro-active. I will be looking for evidence of well-informed questionning during the oral arguments as evidence that you are prepared. So do your "homework."
Since the Chief Justice is responsbile for organizing all meetings, overseeing organization of questionning and guiding questionning during the oral arguments (encouraging opportunities, for all justices to talk, avoiding belaboring points, and also allowing the lawyers the time to make there case), this section is weighted
Individual written contribution to the Court's opinion: 50 points for the Associate Justices
Evidence for assessing this portion of the grade will be determined by the substance and quality of the individual contribution to the final opinion of the Court. Submissions that are not in proper format, not properly footnoted, poorly written or in draft form, will be penalized. Be sure to take a slice of the opinion that is weighty enough to justify an equal contribution. I will consider peer evals to determine that individual contributions were submitted in good form and on time as well as individuals attended any meetings called by the Chief Justice.
Court's opinion: 50 points for the Associate Justices; 75 points for the Chief Justice
The final document will be assessed based on coherency of argument, quality of writing, consistency of voice and style across the individual contributions, proper formatting, footnoting, and narrative transitions between sections.
Contact:Dr.
C.
URL-http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/ncornwell/312/312hitmanhypojustices.html
Revised-Aug 25, 2009