Assignment Details

The appellate process is a cornerstone of a democratic criminal justice system. However, many people are unaware of the process that a case may undergo before it finds itself before the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). In fact, as you have read, not all cases reach the highest court in the land. In this activity, you are going to trace the path of a criminal case from the lower court by identifying the facts of the case, the ruling at the appellate court level, the key legal questions and how they relate to the Constitution, and the ruling in the case as made by the SCOTUS.