Case Brief Assignment
For your case brief assignment, you should choose a United States Supreme Court case related to
crime or the criminal justice system (i.e., the issue should involve the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and/or 14th
Amendment). The case brief should be written according to the following guidelines, using the
bolded topics as section headings in the order specified. The only optional heading is the last one
(“Questions”). It should be no longer than two pages (typed, double-spaced, 12 font/Times New
Roman), but may “spill over” for lengthy cases with a number of issues and opinions. Part of what
makes a case brief effective is its length, so for basic opinions that go over two pages, or for
longer/more complex opinions that do more than “spill over” onto page three, points will be
deducted. This assignment (hard copy only) is due in class on Wednesday, 10/9.
Title and Citation: List the name of the case, the citation listed in text, and the year.
Facts: You should present the relevant facts necessary to understand the “story line” and pertinent to
the issue(s) raised. Make sure that you write it in such a way that not only you understand it, but that
someone reading it without knowledge of the case can understand the case enough to discuss the
issues. This can be difficult as everything seems important (it is not). You must paraphrase. You
should number the facts, 1 through whatever. Each number can have more than one sentence (i.e., if
it takes you 2-3 sentences to summarize one thematic fact, that is fine). You can include the
procedural history here (i.e., the holdings of the lower/appellate courts).
Issue(s): The only relevant issue(s) is/are the one(s) that result in a decision by the Court. Each issue
should be ONE line. To be safe, you should (but are not required) to word the issue as, “whether…”
