Disinformation threatens the independence of the judiciary. In this lesson, students will analyze and find examples of disinformation as it relates to; bots, ads, sock puppets, memes, and inauthentic domains. After understanding the types of disinformation, students will read Chief Justice Roberts’s 2019 End of Year Report to find out the power of disinformation and
Interactions Between the Branches
Article III of the Constitution is short compared to the Articles for Congress and the President. In these lessons, students will explore different documents to determine what the role of the judiciary is and why it is important that it was set up to be independent. Students will explore past and present efforts to adapt
The Supreme Court and the 1876 Presidential Election – Video
In 1876 the outcome of the presidential election between Samuel Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes was decided by a 15-member Commission, which included 5 Supreme Court Justices. Usually, the Hayes-Tilden election is taught as the event that ended Reconstruction, but this 15-minute video adds to that story. It examines the nuts of bolts of presidential
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Court-packing Controversy -Video
In 1937 President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his plan to enlarge the Supreme Court to as many as 15 justices. Congress debated the merits of the plan and Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes opposed it. After 168 days the bill failed, but the lessons from the Court-packing episode are relevant today. This 15-minute documentary designed
Lessons Plans for “Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Court-packing Controversy”
These lesson plans for basic high school and for AP US History have been created for students who have watched the video. They include activities such as analyzing part of the text of FDR’s Court-packing Plan, interpreting political cartoons reacting to the plan, and discussing the intersection of the three branches of government.
Bell Ringer: Jackie Robinson’s Impact on the Civil Rights Movement
Bob Kendrick, president and CEO of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, discusses the impact that Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball in 1947 had on the Civil Rights Movement.
Bell Ringer: Life and Legacy of Frederick Douglass
Museum curator for the National Capital Parks – East Ka’mal McClarin – talks about the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass.
Landmark Supreme Court Case – New York Times v. United States (1971)
New York Times v. United States, better known as the “Pentagon Papers” case, was a decision expanding freedom of the press and limits on the government’s power to interrupt that freedom. President Richard Nixon used his executive authority to prevent the New York Times from publishing top secret documents pertaining to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. In a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that the President’s attempt to prevent the publication was a violation of First Amendment protections for press freedom. This lesson has students explore the background of the New York Times v. United States, the arguments made during the case and its legacy.
Bell Ringer: The Geary Act
Professors Mae Ngai and Josh Blackman explain the nature of the Geary Act, the impact on the Chinese in the late 1800s and its relevance today.
Article V and the 27 Amendments – Module 15 of Constitution 101
With the Constitution, the Founding generation created the greatest charter of freedom in the history of the world. However, the Founding generation did not believe that it had a monopoly on constitutional wisdom. Therefore, the founders set out a formal amendment process that allowed later generations to revise our nation’s charter and “form a more perfect Union.” They wrote this process into Article V of the Constitution. Over time, the American people have used this amendment process to transform the Constitution by adding a Bill of Rights, abolishing slavery, promising freedom and equality, and extending the right to vote to women and African Americans. All told, we have ratified 27 constitutional amendments across American history. Learning objectives: Describe the reasons that the Founding generation included a formal process for amending the Constitution;
explain how the Constitution’s amendment process works, and why the founders made it so hard to amend the Constitution; identify the key periods of constitutional change in American history and outline factors that drive successful pushes to amend the Constitution; describe all 27 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.