1. Due Process, Freedom of Expression, and Search & Seizure

2.  What is due process? The primary & indispensable foundation of individual freedom… Procedural Due Process  The procedures and methods used to conduct hearings and to apply and enforce the laws must be fair and reasonable. All branches of the federal and state government must use fair procedures when they are carrying out the responsibilities. Substantive Due Process  The content of laws that legislatures pass must be fair and reasonable. Congress and state legislatures cannot pass laws that place unfair or unreasonable limitations on people’s rights to life, liberty, or property.

3.  Where do we find our due process rights? With a partner, determine which Amendment number covers each due process right that is listed. Underline the areas of the Amendments that cover these rights.

4.   Read through the case study about Gerald Gault. Using your gut and your knowledge of due process rights, underline all areas of the text that seem unfair (substantively or procedurally).  With a partner, discuss why you deemed each aspect of the case unfair.  Were certain rights in the Bill of Rights infringed?  Were any laws or procedures unfair? In re Gault

5.   You’ve got to be kidding me! Six years hard time over a phone call! It interests students.  It provides insight into what the legal system is like without due process. Provides perspective.  It’s an easy to understand S.C. case. That doesn’t always happen.  There is almost always a due process component to students’ rights cases.  There is a conflict in a society that prides itself on law and order and yet provides expensive and time consuming due process rights for people accused of crimes. Why teach about Gerald Gault?

6.  Discussion Preparation Recognizing Arguments & Co-Notes

7.  Given what we know about student freedom of speech, how should the recent case of Morse v. Frederick have been decided? The Supreme Court came out incredibly mixed on the issue. We’ll review some excerpts from three of the five written opinions and then decide what we believe the best decision is.

8. On January 24, 2002, the Olympic Torch Relay passed through Juneau, Alaska. The torchbearers proceeded in front of Juneau-Douglas High School while school was in session. Deborah Morse, the school principal, decided to permit staff and students to participate in the Torch Relay as an approved social event. Teachers monitored the students. Joseph Frederick, a senior, was late to school that day. When he arrived, he joined his friends across the street from the school to watch the event. As the torchbearers and camera crews passed by, Frederick and his friends unfurled a 14-foot banner bearing the phrase: “BONG HiTS 4 JESUS.” Principal Morse immediately crossed the street and demanded that the banner be taken down. Everyone but Frederick complied. Morse confiscated the banner and told Frederick to report to her office, where she suspended him for 10 days. Morse explained that she told Frederick to take the banner down because she thought it encouraged illegal drug use, in violation of established school policy. Juneau School Board Policy No. 5520 states: “The Board specifically prohibits any assembly or public expression that … advocates the use of substances that are illegal to minors ….” & Policy No. 5850 subjects “[p]upils who participate in approved social events and class trips” to the same student conduct rules that apply during the regular school program. The Superintendent stated, “The common-sense understanding of the phrase ‘bong hits’ is that it is a reference to a means of smoking marijuana. Given [Frederick’s] inability or unwillingness to express any other credible meaning for the phrase, I can only agree with the principal and countless others who saw the banner as advocating the use of illegal drugs. His speech was not political. He was not advocating the legalization of marijuana or promoting a religious belief. He was displaying a fairly silly message promoting illegal drug usage in the midst of a school activity, for the benefit of television cameras covering the Torch Relay. His speech was potentially disruptive to the event and clearly disruptive of and inconsistent with the school’s educational mission to educate students about the dangers of illegal drugs and to discourage their use.”

9.  Quick Think & Write In your own opinion, Does the First Amendment allow public schools to prohibit students from displaying messages promoting the use of illegal drugs at school-supervised events?

10.  1.You already have background. 2.Three Groups: 1.Blue (Opinion/Roberts), Green (Concurrence: Thomas), Yellow (Dissent: Stevens) 3.Silently read your assigned opinion. Underline or highlight what you believe are the most important points. 4.Come together with your color group to determine the two most important claims and accompanying reasoning & evidence for your opinion. 5.In mixed color groups of three, “co-note” the three different arguments. 6.As a group, discuss what you believe the best argument/ decision is. Reading to Understand Argument

11.   Read your opinion.  Underline the best reasoning and evidence.  Make sure you can explain what you believe the justice is saying.  Meet with your color group.  Decide upon the two best claims in the opinion and write them down.  Then, using short quotes & line numbers take notes on the best evidence/reasoning for each claim. Individual Reading & Group Interpretation

12.  Make mixed color groups of 3. Find partners who worked on different opinions than you. Meet up. Starting with Roberts, help the others understand each argument and take minimal notes on each. Everyone can underline the important points in the text.

13.   Merge two groups of three people.  In your group discuss each of the following questions separately.  Which argument is most persuasive? Why?  How would you have liked to have seen the case decided? Why?  With which opinion do you disagree the most? Why? Small Group Discussion

14.   What did you learn from doing this strategy?  Reading for Evidence Jigsaw?  How would this assignment help student with writing?  How could you modify this for your classes? The Strategy

15.   Last VHT meeting: May 17 (Matley)  Last Cohort meeting: May 18 (Matley)  Both groups should bring student tests to these final meetings.  Both groups will bring some part of their lesson (TBD).  VHT Cadre Interviews are May 1 & 2. Coming Up