DeShaney v. Winnebago County DDS

Case Study News Blog
NBC News justice reporter Pete Williams prepares for a report in front of the US Supreme Court(This is where you submit your Case Study Presentation
assignment.)
You will each take a turn playing the role of a media reporter or blogger reporting on the significance (political, social, economic, legal) of a case from the
court cases covered in this course. Your presentation can be in the delivery format of your choice: text, audio, video, etc. For example, you might write a news
article or blog post, record a news reporting segment (picture you with a microphone in front of the Supreme Court reporting just after a decision), or have
someone interview you as the expert. Have fun and be creative.
You will be evaluated based on the accuracy of your report, on the analysis of the case, and your assessment of its significance in terms of law, public
administration, and/or public policy. See the rubric linked below.
Your report should be about 4 - 5 pages in length or 15 minutes if video.
After your presentation is posted, you are expected to read comments and answer questions that your classmates post.
Please note: this assignment requires a substantial input of time and thought. You should get started early and read the entire case you are presenting, which
is likely to be much longer than the excerpt posted on Engage.
Guidance
Focus on the legal issue identified by the course unit and the brief descriiptions that follow the assigned cases on the unit's readings page.
Avoid reviewing “justiciability” and “jurisprudential” issues such as standing to sue and reasons why the judges think the court should or should not hear the
case.
Also, avoid technical issues and, unless it is necessary to explain the court’s decision, do not review past precedents in your report.
If your case has concurring and/or dissenting opinions, it will be very helpful to read them in order to consider other ways that the case might have been
decided.
With few exceptions, the full cases are at http://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court. If you have difficulty finding your case, your instructor will be
able to send it to you.
A major benefit of this exercise is to improve students’ ability to analyze and explain legal decisions and their significance.