Description
Your paper will take the form of a brief presented to the US Supreme Court.
STEP 1
Statement of the Issues
This is a short introductory statement that summarizes the legal issues in the case, and signals to the
justices what the attorney’s want them to decide, or for a justice, the points of law they refer to in
making their decision in the case.
Each issue should be concise, ranging from 1-2 sentences. This section should be no more than 1 page.
STEP 2
Statement of the Facts (from client’s or justice’s point of view)
This is not a summary of the facts of the case; this is the art of telling the “story” of the facts from your
client’s perspective, or from the justice’s perspective. If you are an attorney, you will explain the
situation in a way that helps your client. If you are a justice, you will explain the facts in a way that
supports your final decision regarding the outcome. This part of the paper will set the stage for the
argument and should help the audience understand the case. Facts should not be assumed, changed,
distorted, or fabricated.
This section should be 2-3 pages.
STEP 3
Argument
This is the “substance” of the paper. Arguments must be well-organized, persuasive, and be supported
by legal materials (i.e precedent, statutes, text, etc.) as frequently as possible. You should present an
argument for your side and address your opponent’s argument (for attorneys, the other side/outcome,
for justices, the majority versus dissenting opinions). Reliance on precedent, but also originality of ideas
and arguments are essential here. Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger are the two most prevalent precedents. There is also a case called Fisher v. University of Texas, 2016, when Justice Alito was on the Court. You will want to look at which side he took and what the opinion said to get an idea of his views on this topic
This section should be roughly 8-10 pages long (1-2 pages longer if you are near the maximum page
length).
STEP 4
Conclusion
This is a summary of your argument and specifically states your desired result. This should be no longer
than 1 page.
Citations
U.S. Supreme Court: Official Citation
When citing Supreme Court cases, you must cite to the official Supreme Court
reporter, United States Reports. To cite to a case in the United States Reports, list the
following five elements in order:
1. Name of the case (underlined or italicized);
2. Volume of the United States Reports;
3. Reporter abbreviation (“U.S.”);
4. First page where the case can be found in the reporter;
5. Year the case was decided (within parentheses).
