Law and Social Change

Law 550A

Political Science 524

Assignment #1
An Examination of the Interpreting Population
(Due on February 7)

1. Select any U.S. Supreme Court case (except Bakke) decided before 1990.

2. Shepardize the case. (You can do this via LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe. Follow the Legal Research path.)

3. Check to see that there are at least three lower federal court (district or court of appeals) decisions, citing the case , that Shepard's "treated" (that is, Shepard's adjudged as "following," "distinguishing," and so the Supreme Court precedent). If there aren't, select another case.

4. Determine the number of "favorable" and "unfavorable" treatments.

5. If the treatments are overwhelmingly "favorable," explain why; if the treatments are mixed, explain why; if the treatments are overwhelmingly negative, explain, why. (Developing explanations will require you to consider various features of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, as well as of lower court rulings. If there are many, many treatments, you don't have to read all the cases. Select a few for in-depth analysis.

6. Write up your analysis. It should include (1) a brief discussion of the precedent established by the U.S. Supreme Court (a paragraph or so), (2) a table summarizing the treatments that Shephard's assigned to the various lower court rulings, and (3) an explanation(s) for lower court reactions (see #5 above). Your paper should not be longer than 5 double-spaced pages. Use a font-size of 12 point.

7. The paper is due on February 7. You can bring it to class or attach it to an email to me (epstein@wustl.edu).