The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth

 I have FINALLY made it to the last Action Project of junior year. It is for my humanities class, Policy. Each unit has been focused on one of the three branches of government, with the last one being the judicial branch. In preparation for this project we met with Kenneth Gunn of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, and Iyana Simba of the Illinois Environmental Council. For our final project, we were to imagine we had been nominated to the Supreme Court. We were given six questions to answer and tasked with finding an applicable decided case to apply to each question. All of my classmates and I either made a slideshow or recorded an improvised video answering this question, and you can watch mine below. 

Here's some more information on each of the Supreme Court cases I referenced. 

- Alvarez v. United States was a case in which the court determined the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 was in violation of the First Amendment right to free speech. 

- RJR Nabisco v. European Community was a case in which 26 European states sued RJR Nabisco for running a global money laundering scheme. Justice Sotomayor had previously heard the case in a lower court, so she recused herself. 

- Gideon v. Wainwright was a case in which the court determined Clarence Earl Gideon's rights were violated when the state of Florida denied him a public defender. 

- Marbury v. Madison was a case in which the court determined Judicial Review. Prior to this the court did not rule things constitutional/unconstitutional.

- Eldred v. Ashcroft was a case in which the court was ruling on if perpetual copyright (effectively ending the public domain) violated the First Amendment right to free speech. 

Sources: 

“Eldred v. Ashcroft.” Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/01-618. Accessed 3 June 2022.

“Gideon v. Wainwright.” Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/1962/155. Accessed 3 June 2022.

“Marbury v. Madison.” Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/1789-1850/5us137. Accessed 3 June 2022.

“RJR Nabisco v. European Community.” Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/15-138. Accessed 3 June 2022.

“United States v. Alvarez.” Oyez, https://www.oyez.org/cases/2011/11-210. Accessed 3 June 2022.