SJC 4899: Race, Representation, and Law

FROM YOUR ASSIGNMENT (see your course materials for the full expectations/requirements)

• Analysis of the ruling should answer the following questions:
  • Who were the parties?
  • What was the key issue or issues?
  • How did the court decide?
  • What was breakdown of vote? (majority, concurrences, dissents)
  • What is the significance of the ruling?
  • What was the public reaction to the ruling?
  • How has this ruling played out over time?
  • Were there unintended consequences?
  • Do you think the case was correctly decided? Why or why not?

• Your paper must include at least 10 sources, including all of the following:
  • The Court ruling, including all majority and dissenting opinions.
  • Articles published at the time of the ruling: newspaper articles and editorials, magazine stories, opinion columns.
  • You need to have a sense of public reaction at the time of the ruling (as well as continued reverberations, which can be considered through the lens of popular or political artifacts).
  • Other critical or popular or political reactions to the cultural artifact.

Look up your case in one of the free online legal databases. Make sure you know the original date of the case. The law builds upon previous cases so your case may be cited for many years after its original date.

Court Listener: "CourtListener is a free legal research website containing millions of legal opinions from federal and state courts. With CourtListener, lawyers, journalists, academics, and the public can research an important case, stay up to date with case law as it develops, or do deep analysis using our raw data."

Legal Information Institute: "We are a small not-for-profit group that believes everyone should be able to read and understand the laws that govern them, without cost. We value accuracy and objectivity."

FindLaw Resources for Legal Professionals: "A Thomson Reuters business, FindLaw is the world’s leading provider of online legal information for consumers and small businesses. We are also the industry leader in internet marketing solutions for law firms."