The Federal Judiciary
Instructions:
The purpose of this Assignment is to focus on comparing different modes of reasoning by the members of the federal judiciary.
Go to www.oyez.org and click on the Justices link. You can click on any of the justices to get biographical information, such as how long they served, which president appointed them, and other information. Note who appointed the Justice and the length of time that these justices served on the Court. From each justice’s site, you can click on Opinions to read the arguments written by individual justices.
Another way to examine the Court’s influence on public policy is to look at a series of cases dealing with a particular public policy issue — for example, abortion. From the homepage, under Cases, click on View cases by issue and then Privacy. You will see a few choices, one of which is Abortion. Several cases to examine are Roe v. Wade, Webster v. Reproductive Health Services, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
After reading the example cases, you should write a 3–5-page paper:
· Select two decided cases on the same public policy issue and compare the majority opinion with the minority dissent for both cases.
· Does the length of time that someone has served on the Court matter?
· Does public opinion influence the opinions of the Justices?
· Has the Courts opinion changed on the issue over time?
NOTE: Use APA format when referring to your textbooks or any outside sources throughout the course.
