The Judicial Branch, Day 7 - Class Recap

The exterior of the Colosseum in Rome. At the end of gladiator fights, the loser would famously be judged by the emperor. Photo taken summer 2014.

Dear class,

It is always great to see you first thing in the morning! It helps brighten the start of my day immensely. Here's what happened today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed:

Knowledge LT 5: I can demonstrate an understanding of the principles, structures, and functions of different levels of U.S. government.

Soundtrack: "Money" by Pink Floyd. Selected for today because trials and lawyers cost a lot of money to run.

AGENDA 5/12/15:
News Brief – Zoey
National Judiciary
Review Landmark Cases
Study Guide

Homework: Read the blog. Judicial Branch test next class (Thursday). Turn in any late/incomplete work. Next news brief: Simone

News Brief: Zoey had the news brief today and talked about this story: OregonLive.com - Kate Brown signs background check bill as gun violence groups claim landmark victory. This goes back to the beginning of the year, when we were debating gun control and looking into the different perspectives on this issue. Thanks, Zoey! We also talked about last weekend, before moving on.

Simone was assigned to do the next news brief.

Juries/The National Judiciary/Review Landmark Cases: We did have the time to go through both of these in detail today - thoroughly reviewing the main concepts of the unit, before the test:

Google Drive: Reading on Juries for Judicial Branch Test

Google Drive: The National Judiciary Readings and Questions

I also passed out a review for the landmark Supreme Court Cases that we went through.

Study Guide: Most of class was spent going over many questions about the judicial branch. I also passed out this study guide for preparation:

Google Drive: Judicial Branch Test Study Guide

One of the questions on the test will be (thanks for checking the blog!): In this case the U.S. Supreme Court declared that no one accused of a crime has to stand trial in any court in the land without benefit of counsel unless he or she specifically refuses it.
A. Dred Scott v Sanford C. Gideon v Wainwright
B. Plessy v Ferguson D. Brown v Board of Education

If you aren't sure, guess in the comments and I will tell you what the answer is!

See you next class, for the test! Then we will start moving on to the State and Local government unit, which is the last one of the semester!