Ethnicity, Gender and the Courts

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Framework
The U.S. Senate confirmed Sonia Sotomayor's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court –making her the first Latina to sit on the nation's highest court. With a long record as a judge, and a Senate majority from the same party as the president who appointed her, Justice Sotomayor's confirmation was widely considered to be a sure thing.

Even so, the confirmation hearings sparked a nationwide debate about ethnic identity and gender and their roles in the judiciary. Is a judge wrong to acknowledge that race, ethnicity and gender affect the way we experience the world? Could an all-white, all-male panel of judges produce just results for a diverse nation? Does empathy – the quality President Obama said he was seeking in a nominee – inform a judge's decisions with wisdom, or does it distract a person from strict interpretation of the law? Justice Sotomayor's nomination is complete -- but for many people, the discussion about these questions is ongoing.

This lesson plan will help your students explore their own beliefs about the makeup of the Supreme Court, and will foster a civil discussion about diversity on the Court.

Objectives

• Students will explore their own beliefs about the qualities that make someone qualified to sit on the Supreme Court – and hold a discussion with their colleagues about their beliefs
• Students will demonstrate a knowledge of the history of the U.S. Supreme Court by writing about and debating the ethnic, religious and gender makeup of the Court

Materials
One copy, per student, of each of the following handouts:
The Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court Justice Characteristics 
General Statistics of the United States of America
Supreme Court Statistics

Procedures

Day 1:

1. Pass out Handout #1 to students. It is a very brief explanation of the Supreme Court and its purpose. (Depending on the age of your students, you may want to support this with further material.)
2. Have students raise their right hand and repeat, in the style of a swearing in ceremony: "I", "Am", "The President of the United States."
3. Congratulate your students on their "election." Tell each of them to imagine that they are indeed the President, and that a sitting member of the Court has announced his retirement. Tell students to pretend that they have assembled a team of legal experts to help them find a nominee for the Court. This team wants to know more about the President’s desires. "What do you value most in a nominee, Mr./Madame President?"
4. Pass out Handout #2 to all students. Ask students to place the 11 qualities on the list in order from most important to least important. Ask students to explain their order in 5 to 7 sentences.
5. On single sheets of white paper, write each characteristic from the list in bold script. Group students into small teams and ask them to share their lists and explanations for 5-10 minutes.
6. While the small teams are engaged, choose eleven students and hand each a sheet of paper with a particular characteristic on it. Have these students come to the front of the room, huddle together to discuss, and then position themselves into a line from most significant to least significant. Designate one person as spokesperson, or have students choose among themselves. Once the team of students has assembled in a line ask the spokesperson to share the team's reasoning for placement. Once they have completed their presentation open discussion to the entire class.
7. As homework, you may ask students to interview a parent, guardian or other adult. Students can share their characteristic, its position on the scale and reasoning and then engage the adult in a discussion. Students should write a summary of what the adult says – and have the adult sign it.

Day 2

1. If students were assigned homework, have them divide into teams and discuss their findings. Otherwise, pass out handout #3. Talk students through the statistics and then have them individually wrestle through the Questions to Consider.
2. Once they have considered the questions, assemble into small teams and discuss their findings. If necessary, lead students in a teacher directed discussion about the statistics.
3. Pass out Handout #4. Walk students through the statistics. Then, have students get into small teams and discuss their answers to the questions. Allow 5-10 minutes. Then lead students in a teacher-directed discussion about their answers.
4. For homework have students write a five- to seven-sentence response to the following question, "Does the Supreme Court need to adequately represent the ethnic, religious, gender and sexual identity statistics of the United States to ensure that justice is done? Why or why not?"

Extension Activity

Have students research and write about the nomination process of Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Possible topics of focus could include, does she meet your chosen characteristics (from the original list)? Why or why not? How much closer does she move the ethnic, religious, etc. characteristics of the Court toward the characteristics of the United States?

Standards
This lesson supports standards and benchmarks in Civics (Standards 11 and 15) and History.