Supreme Court "Briefing" Assignment

It is important that you familiarize yourself with the Supreme Court, as they have the ability to change the Constitution on a daily basis. The following readings and questions should help you to understand the meaning of US Supreme Court decisions and how they are made public.This assignment is worth 50 total points (5 % of your course grade).

Read the case, Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt,that is attached to the instructions. The last slide in the Chapter 1 presentation and pg. 20 in that chapter may help as well. Then answer the following questions.

1. Who wrote the majority opinion in this case?

2. Besides the majority opinion, what other kinds of opinions were written, and who wrote them.

3. Who are the parties, and what are the parties called in a Supreme Court case.

4. The parties were previously before the US Supreme Court: What did the court decide in that first case?

5. Briefly describe the facts for me that lead us here, including the results at the lower courts.

6. What was the essential issue the Supreme Court was addressing?

7. What did the U. S. Supreme Court decide (majority decision) in this (second) case that the parties brought to the court, and what did the court do with the case?

8. What did the dissent argue were two mistakes that the majority made in deciding the way it did?