Final Analysis Paper
Now you are ready to tear up a text using one of our two schools of criticism from
class.
Finding a topic
Although this class focuses to a great extent upon Civil Rights cases, you do not
have to write your paper on one. Nearly any time period is fine, but the trial must
have been in a U.S. court. There must also be a transcript of the proceedings
that includes a legal professional actually making an oral argument. You may not
select a text that has been already discussed in your textbook or readings. Here
are some approaches to finding a topic:
1. Think of a social issue that you are interested in, then look for a case related
to that issue. Are you into business (McDonalds v Home Shopping Network)?
Equal Rights (Shelby County v. Holder)? Affirmative action (U of California v.
Bakke; Gratz v. Bollinger)?
2. Think of a person you are interested in. Many of the great speakers in
American history were lawyers. Here are some names, any ring a bell? Abraham
Lincoln, William Jennings Bryan, Clarence Darrow, Thurgood Marshall, Vincent
Bugliosi, Gerry Spence, William Kunstler, F. Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz, Jonnie
Cochran (not Simpson trial), Leslie Abramson.
3. Think of a popular trial that attracted a lot of attention and news coverage.
There are controversial issues that reached the Supreme Court like Roe v.
Wade, or Brown v. Board of Education. There are “celebrity” criminal trials like
