Part I: How the Courts Address or Respect Our Rights as Citizens – Outline
Assig
Part I: How the Courts Address or Respect Our Rights as Citizens – Outline
Assignment
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 11, 12
Lesson
Minimum of 2 scholarly sources in addition to the textbook.
Instructions
This assignment is comprised of 2 parts, the first of which is due this week. Part II will be due in Week 7.
In Part I this week, choose a case from your state that involves civil rights or civil liberties that was decided by the United States Supreme Court. If your state does not have a case that was decided by the United States Supreme Court, choose a civil rights case from another state for which the United States Supreme Court issued a decision.
Here is a brief descriiption of civil rights and civil liberties: Civil rights refers to equal social opportunities under the law. It gives you these freedoms such as the right to vote, the right to public education, or a fair trial, among other things, regardless of your wealth or race. Civil liberties mean freedom of religion, equal treatment and due process under the law, and the right to privacy.
You should be able to go online and look up your state and famous cases decided by the Supreme Court. For example, Brown v Board of Education (1951) started in Topeka, Kansas, and ended up in the Supreme Court of the United States. Another example would be Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v Steve Sisolak, Governor of Nevada (2020) that started in Nevada and ended up the United States Supreme Court. A good source of information about cases decided by the United States Supreme Court is www.scotusblog.com. Other sources can be researched online using search terms for “civil rights cases decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.” Be sure to use a case actually decided by the United States Supreme Court, and not a case decided by your state’s supreme court or a different court. A case that is still pending before the United States Supreme Court should not be used. If you are unsure, please contact your Professor BEFORE you pick your case and submit the assignment as this is a significant part of your overall grade.
Research your court case and write an outline of the case that you will be using to prepare a presentation, which will either be a narrated PowerPoint, a Kaltura Video, or some other format as approved by your instructor. If you are unsure, then verify the presentation format with your instructor before starting work on this assignment.
This week’s assignment should include (a) summary of the case; (b) a case outline; and a summary.
Summary of the Case
In one or two paragraphs, provide a general overview of the case that serves as a snapshot of what the case is about and how it ended up in your state high court. A summary is using your words to write a brief history of the case. Do not give your opinion or your interpretation but stick to the facts only.
Case Outline
Your court case outline should include:
Title: Name of the case
Facts of the case: Provide key facts involving the case.
History of the case: What legal action was taken based on what your state laws say about this case?
Legal questions: What were the legal issues the court had to decide?
Decision or holdings: Did the court decide for the plaintiff or the defendant? Explain the reason behind the decision?
Verdict and opinion (judgement): What were the concurring and dissenting opinions? How many judges decided for the defendant and how many justices decided against the defendant? What was the final verdict from the judge or the jury, if it was a jury trial?
Conclusion:
What was the resulting impact of the ruling? How did the citizens of your state benefit from it? Was this a good decision?
Requirements
The length of your outline will vary. Usually an outline is anywhere from 1-3 pages long. Make sure to write full sentences to explain your case. It is a concise list to be used as a reference for you during the presentation.
Using the outline, you will be describing the court case in your presentation and the scenario around the court case. The use of Wikipedia as a primary source of information is to be avoided – it is not a reliable source of information.
Search for an example of a case outline in the Internet. Without going into much detail at this state, each of the items listed above has a subject sentence with 3-6 bullet points that can help you expand on the topic.
For Week 7, you will be creating a narrated PowerPoint, or a video as approved by your instructor, from this week’s outline.
This assignment is worth 200 points.
1-inch margins
Double spaced
12-point Times New Roman font
Title page
References page (minimum of 2 scholarly sources in addition to textbook if cited)
V.L. v. E.L
Chamberlain University College of Nursing
POLI 330: Political Science
Professor:
December 08, 2023
V.L. v. E.L
Introduction
A notable civil rights case from Florida is V.L. v. E.L. As per the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, a Florida court must acknowledge and uphold a Georgia court’s decision allowing visiting rights to a biological mother’s lesbian partner under the Full Faith and Credit clause of the U.S. Constitution. This case is used as an illustration of a civil rights case since the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a decision in it. The ruling, which was debated and approved by the U.S. Supreme Court, established that disputes over how to interpret state laws should be resolved by the state courts with jurisdiction over the legislation in question.
Facts of the Case
Long-term partners V.L. and E.L. were lesbians who co-parented their three children, of which E.L. was the biological parent. They ultimately concluded that V.L. ought to adopt the kids and petitioned the Georgia state court to do so, which was approved. In 2011, a breakup of V.L. and E.L. happened when they were residing in Alabama. In a petition filed in state court in Alabama, V.L. claimed that E.L. had interfered with her parental rights and refused her access to her children. E.L. filed an appeal after V.L. requested that the Georgia adoption ruling be registered and the Alabama state court grant that custody or visitation. The lower Court was found to have neglected to hold an evidentiary hearing by the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals. In a reversal, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the Georgia state court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to grant V.L. an adoption order while maintaining E.L.’s parental rights. As a result, the Alabama courts were not required to recognize that decision per the Full Faith and Credit Clause.
History of the Case
Alabama state courts are constitutionally obligated to acknowledge and accept an adoption order issued by a Georgia state court per the Full Faith and Credit Clause (Brilmayer, 2023). In a per curiam opinion, the Court established that a state can only refuse to recognize another state’s decision if the Court of that state does not have authority over the relevant legal issues or the persons involved. Other state courts should recognize and respect the verdict because Georgia law authorizes the state courts to handle adoption cases in this situation, and no existing Georgia regulation contradicts this.
Legal Question
Is it necessary for the Alabama state courts to accept an adoption order from a Georgia state court for the Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause to apply?
Decision
In the V.L. v. E.L. case, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a state court must, under the federal Full Faith and Credit Clause, accord a foreign court’s decision total weight and credit, regardless of whether the decision deals with a touchy social issue like same-sex relationships (Oyez, n.d). The federal Full Faith and Credit Clause was maintained by the U.S. Supreme Court, which was taken into consideration when making this decision (Brilmayer, 2023). As determined by the Court, the custody and visitation order made by the Georgia court had to be treated in Florida with the same deference and credibility that it would have received if it had been granted there. This case established that courts in the state where the law is being construed should have the authority to decide disputes surrounding that interpretation rather than courts in other states. This decision is significant because it protects their legal rights to due process and privacy regardless of the state where the individual resides.
Verdict and Opinion
The Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling was unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States, which granted the petition for a writ of certiorari and produced a per curiam opinion. As the Court noted, the Georgia court had jurisdiction to hear the initial adoption petition, and the Alabama Supreme Court was consequently entitled to full faith and credit for its ruling.
Conclusion
In this case, the ruling established that courts in different states are obligated to uphold a conclusive decision made in one state, provided that a court issued it with the appropriate authority over both the subject matter and the parties involved in the decision. Suppose a state court does not have the legal authority to hear a particular type of case or does not have the authority to make decisions that affect the parties involved. In that case, a state is not required to recognize and enforce the judgment made by another state court. The jurisdictional investigation is limited. Unless there is proof to the contrary, the Court is presumed to have proper jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter if the ruling appears to be from a court with extensive authority. Courts should use caution in classifying a subject as jurisdictional unless it is clearly and undeniably within their jurisdiction to prevent the reexamination of resolved matters.
In this case, the Alabama Supreme Court erred by upholding the defendant’s position and refusing to uphold the adoption judgment from Georgia. On its face, the decision was rendered by a broad jurisdiction court. No established Georgia rule states otherwise; state courts under Georgia law handle adoption proceedings. The defendant did not refute the presumption that the Georgia state court possessed competent jurisdiction. Furthermore, even though the Georgian Court’s decision was made improperly on the merits, this error was not due to a lack of jurisdiction. By classifying the matter as jurisdictional and failing to accord the Georgian Court’s ruling full faith and credit, the Alabama Supreme Court committed an error. Alabama courts must, therefore, give Georgia’s final ruling full faith and credit. These factors led to the reversal of the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision and the remand of the case.
References
Brilmayer, R. L. (2023). Abortion, Full Faith and Credit, and the’Judicial Power’Under Article III: Does Article IV of the US Constitution Require Sister-state Enforcement of Anti-abortion Damages Awards?. Available at SSRN 4352225.
Oyez (n.d.). V.L. v. E.L. Oyez. Retrieved December 9, 2023, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/15-648
This is part one of the outline.
This is part two the presentation PowerPoint.
Part II: How the Courts Address or Respect Our Rights as Citizens – Presentation
Assignment
Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:
Textbook: Chapter 17. Also, Chapter 11 and 12 from Week 6 might still be relevant.
Lesson
Minimum of 2 scholarly sources in addition to the textbook.
Instructions
This is Part II of the assignment you submitted in Week 6.
Using the case outline (Part I: How the Courts Address or Respect Our Rights as Citizens) you submitted in Week 6, prepare and submit a presentation, which will either be a narrated PowerPoint, a Kaltura Video, or some other format as approved by your instructor. Be sure to verify the presentation format with your instructor before starting work on this assignment.
The presentation Point presentation will need to include:
Name the case
Discuss the facts of the case
Discuss the history of the case (what laws or legal action was taken)
Discuss the issues or the facts of the case and legal questions the court must decide
Discuss if the court’s decision or holdings was for the plaintiff or for the defendant and what were the reasons for the decision?
Discuss the concurring and dissenting opinions from the judge or if a jury trial, the jury.
Important: In this assignment, you are expected to elaborate the points you made in the prior assignment in Week 6. This assignment will be graded on your strength to elaborate and explain the facts of the case and proper use of visual aids, good narration, and presenting to the case and how well you stick to the case. For example, if you are using the PowerPoint, you are also expected to include proper visuals that are relevant to the case. Do not copy-paste the outline into this and call it complete.
This assignment is worth 225 points.
Requirements
Length: The presentation must be 10-15 slides long if using PowerPoint (excluding cover and reference pages) or 3-5 minute long if using a video presentation.
Font should not be smaller than size 16-point
Parenthetical in-text citations included and formatted in APA style
Title/Introduction slide required
References slide minimum of 2 scholarly sources in addition to textbook if cited)
Use the speaker notes to elaborate on the content on the slides
Grading
This activity will be graded based on the Written Assignment Grading Rubric.
Outcomes
CO 4: Assess the role of social forces such as the media, think tanks, political action committees, and quasi-governmental bodies in the making of domestic and foreign policy.
CO 6: Critically analyze the American political environment and issues relating to present day using primary and secondary sources.
CO 7: Examine their state constitution for key principles using an inquiry-based instructional model.
Due Date
By 11:59 p.m. MT on Sunday
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Rubric
Week 8: Part II: How the Courts Address or Respect Our Rights as Citizens – Presentation
Week 8: Part II: How the Courts Address or Respect Our Rights as Citizens – Presentation
Criteria Ratings Pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeFacts of the Case
30 pts
Identifies numerous facts that go above and beyond highlighting the importance of the case and make the case foundations explicit.
26 pts
Identifies a number of facts that highlight the importance of the case and make the case foundations explicit.
23 pts
Identifies several facts that make the case foundation clear but omits at least one important fact.
20 pts
Identifies some facts but omits more than one important fact crucial to understanding this case.
0 pts
No effort
30 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeHistory of the Case
30 pts
The presentation covers an exceptional level of case history to make the legal actions surrounding the case clear and detailed.
26 pts
The presentation demonstrates points of case history surrounding the legal actions of the course case.
23 pts
The presentation provides brief points of case history surrounding the legal actions of the course case; however, additional explanation is needed to make the history clear and in context
20 pts
The presentation provides such a minimal number of points of case history surrounding the legal actions that the history of the case is not clear.
0 pts
No effort
30 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeLegal Questions
20 pts
The presentation clearly points to the specific civil liberties issues that the courts had to determine to issue a verdict.
18 pts
The presentation points to the general civil liberties issues that the courts had to determine to issue a verdict.
15 pts
The presentation provides some information regarding the general civil liberties issues that the courts had to determine to issue a verdict, but at times is unclear or inaccurate.
12 pts
The presentation is not clear or largely inaccurate regarding the general civil liberties issues that the courts had to determine to issue a verdict.
0 pts
No effort
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeDecision or Holdings
20 pts
The presentation clearly lists whether the court ruled for the plaintiff or the defendant along with the reasoning provided by the court and key details directly related to understanding the ruling. Any holdings or court imposed conditions as part of the verdict are also listed.
17 pts
The presentation lists whether the court ruled for the plaintiff or the defendant along with the reasoning provided by the court but includes few details related to the ruling.Holdings or court imposed conditions are not clear.
15 pts
The presentation lists whether the court ruled for the plaintiff or the defendant but the included reasoning is unclear. Holdings or court imposed conditions are also omitted.
13 pts
The presentation lists whether the court ruled for the plaintiff or the defendant but omits the reasoning. Holdings or court imposed conditions are either omitted or incoherent.
0 pts
No effort
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeVerdict: Concurring and Dissenting Opinion
30 pts
The presentation clearly points to the verdict and provides clear detail of the affirming and dissenting opinions.
26 pts
The presentation points to the verdict and provides information on the affirming and dissenting opinions.
23 pts
The presentation provides the verdict but information on the affirming and dissenting opinions is minimal.
20 pts
The presentation does not provide the verdict and/or information on the affirming and dissenting opinions is unclear or lacking.
0 pts
No effort
30 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomePresentation: Overall
25 pts
The presentation includes all required components, is visually clean and appealing with effective use of visuals and includes narration.
20 pts
The presentation includes most required components, makes effective use of visuals, and includes narration.
15 pts
The presentation includes few of the components, has some visuals, and includes narration.
12 pts
The presentation does not include most of required components, is visually hard to follow with no visuals, and has limited or no narration.
0 pts
No effort
25 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomePresentation: Narration and Delivery
40 pts
Audible and clear volume without ambient noise, has a good pace, and stays to the topic. Overall excellent delivery.
35 pts
Audible and clear volume, generally with good clarity and little or no ambient noise, has a good pace, with few or no interruptions and stays to the topic. Overall very good delivery.
31 pts
Quite clear and audible with some volume or ambient noise issues but still has a good pace with some interruptions but generally stays to the topic. Delivery needs improvement.
27 pts
Narration has volume and audio issues with background noise, and often trails off the topic. Delivery needs major improvement.
0 pts
No effort
40 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeWriting and Visuals: Mechanics and Usage and Relevance of the Visuals
20 pts
The writing is concise, free of errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Effective use of visuals
17 pts
The writing is free of errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Visual aids used adequately
13 pts
The writing contains some errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Visual aids could be improved.
8 pts
The student presents information that is not clear, logical, professional or organized to the point that the reader has difficulty understanding the message. Visual aids used poorly
0 pts
No effort
20 pts
This criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeCitations
10 pts
The references are provided in accurate APA format.
8 pts
The references contain a few minor error in APA format.
7 pts
The references contain several minor errors in APA format.
6 pts
The references contain major errors in APA format.
0 pts
No effort
10 pts
Total Points: 225
Please follow the instructions all of them I need all these points and I already know for privacy purposes you cant do the voice or the video