Marshall+Mock+Trial+Project

John Marshall is regarded as one of the most influential figures in expanding the power of the federal government through his Supreme Court rulings during the early 19th Century. In this project, we will be exploring some of those influential court decisions through a mock trial project.

__**Your** **Task:**__ 1. You (and most likely, a partner) will pick one of the more prominent cases listed below, along with one of the sides in that case, and prepare a two minute opening statement for your trial. You will need to be knowledgable of both the arguments of your side and your opponents as the Supreme Court will be asking you questions throughout your trial. You will need to bring a hard copy of your opening statement to class with you on the date of your trial.

2. You will need to conduct background research on TWO of the other cases and develop a minimum of two questions that you would ask the lawyers in that particular case (one for the plaintiff and one for the defense). You will be asked to serve on the Supreme Court for this activity at some point, so you need to be prepared! You will need to submit your questions using this form.

3. You will need to write your opinion in the case, to be submitted via email by the next class.

You will be given some time in class to prepare for your trial, although, most of the work will need to be done outside of class.
 * __The Procedure__**

The Supreme Court operates its trials in a different fashion than a traditional court. Lawyers do not call witnesses in these trials, but rather, make their arguments to the panel of judges. Furthermore, the judges ask the lawyers questions at the Supreme Court, rather than the lawyers asking questions of the witnesses.

During the trial, each side will be given two minutes to deliver their opening statements. The justices will then have ten minutes to ask questions to the lawyers. (I will be playing the role of John Marshall and will ensure that both sides receive an equal amount of questions!) After this time, the justices will be dismissed to render their verdict.

After the trial, you will need to issue a ruling in the case. To do so, you will need to write an "opinion," which, for our purposes, is who you think gave the more convincing argument and why. This write up should be no more than one page (typed, double-spaced) and should be turned in to me at the beginning of the following class.

__**The Cases**__ Fletcher v Peck McCulloch v Maryland Cohens v Virginia Gibbons v Ogden Dartmouth v Woodward Worcester v Georgia

__**The Order - Block D**__ Worcester (Daniella and Rachel) v. Georgia (Hyundo and Jacob) //Justices: Jack, Sung-Woo, Eunice, Suzy//

McCulloch (Yaerin and Christina) v. Maryland (Andrew and Terry) //Justices: Daniella, Rachelle, Hyundo, Jacob//

Dartmouth (Jack and Sung-Woo) v. Woodward (Eunice and Suzy) //Justices: Diana, Soyoon, Elliot, John//

Cohens (Diana and Soyoon) v. Virginia (Elliot and John) //Justices: Yaerin, Christina, Andrew, Terry//

__**The Order - Block F**__ Cohens (Chris and William) v. Virginia (Colin and Scott) //Justices: Alex, Erin, Dean, Habin, and Jimmy//

Dartmouth (Shelly and Michelle) v. Woodward (Sarah and Kelly) //Justices:// //Colin, Scott, Chris, and William//

Worcester (Jimmy and Habin) v. Georgia (Dean, Alex, and Erin) //Justices: Philip, Joseph, Austin and Peter//

McCulloch (Philip and Joseph) v. Maryland (Austin and Peter) //Justices: Shelly, Michelle, Sarah and Kelly//