PUBLISHED BY
LAW WISE
MARCH 2017 • ISSUE 5
Coordinators:
on. G. Joseph Pierron Jr., Chair, Law-Related Education Committee
H
Anne Woods, Public Services Director & Ryan Purcell, Graphic Designer
Greetings from the Kansas Bar Association (KBA).
Welcome to this edition of Law Wise,the fifth of the 2016-2017 school year.
IN THIS ISSUE
The 14th Amendmentment: Transforming
American Democracy����������������������������������1
iCivics: Civil Rights Unit����������������������������������2
Learn about Federal Courts
and Schedule a Field Trip!���������������������������2
Would you like an attorney to visit
your classroom to discuss the
Fourteenth Amendment?������������������������������2
Lesson Plan: What Does It Mean to
Have Equal Protection of the Laws?�������������3
Mock Trial�������������������������������������������������������4
Terrific Technology for Teachers�����������������������5
Dear Readers���������������������������������������������������5
Calendar of Events
March 31 – April 1Mock Trial State
Competition
May 1
Law Day
May 11-13Mock Trial National
Competition
Red Cloud
E
ach year, the American Bar Association determines a theme for Law
Day. This year the theme is the Fourteenth Amendment: Transforming
American Democracy. Law Day is on May 1 and is a day to recognize
the role of law in society and to help create a deeper understanding of the
legal profession. You can tell from the events listed below that during 18651868 the U.S. was in much turmoil regarding civil rights. Many would say
that we still are in turmoil. However, if you study the events during the time
in which the Fourteenth Amendment was created, you will see that we have
come a long way. We celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Fourteenth
Amendment next year.
What was life in the U.S. like after the Civil
War?
Here are a few key events that took place in the first few years after the end
of the Civil War:
1865
General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederate Army to Commanding General Ulysses S. Grant, ending the Civil War.
President Abraham Lincoln was attending “Our American Cousin,”
a comedy at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC, and was shot by John
Wilkes Booth. President Lincoln died the next day.
The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified and officially ended slavery,
except as punishment for a crime.
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was formed. This group of Confederates
formed a secret society to ensure that African Americans did not gain civil
or legal rights.
www.ksbar.org/lawwise
2 LAW WISE | MARCH 2017
1866
Reconstruction following
the war began. Freed slaves
could vote but slaves still under the Confederacy were not
able to vote and could not hold
office.
Red Cloud lead his tribe into
battle against white settlers
in Montana and Wyoming.
Tribes attacked settlers and
miners in Oregon and Idaho.
The Indian Wars continued for
two years until the U.S. Army forced the tribes back to reservations.
1867
The U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million.
1868
The longest amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The Fourteenth Amendment provided a clear definition
of a citizen of the United States. Here are a few key points
about the amendment:
iCivics
• It ensured that freed slaves were official U.S. citizens
and were awarded rights given to U.S. citizens by the
Constitution.
• The Fourteenth Amendment makes it clear that the Bill
of Rights applies to the federal government and to
state governments.
• The amendment guarantees due process of law by state
governments.
• The amendment guarantees equal protection of the
laws. Every person (regardless of age, race, religion,
etc.) would be treated the same by the government. This
clause was used in the landmark civil rights case, Brown
v. Board of Education of Topeka which declared school
segregation unconstitutional. The 60th anniversary of
that case was in 2014. Members of the Kansas Bar
Association prepared several free resources about this
case. A PDF handbook for teachers provides a summary of the case and a list of questions and answers to
accompany a discussion. Also available upon request is a
74-minute video on DVD. Visit http://www.ksbar.org/
brownvboard to learn more. n
Learn about Federal Courts
and Schedule a Field Trip!
Civil Rights Unit
The Civil Rights unit covers the early days of the expansion of slavery in the United States, through the momentous
1950s and 60s, and into the modern Civil Rights Movement.
This unit features primary documents, readings, activities and
more to introduce your students to key concepts, events, and
individuals of this facet of American history. www.icivics.org
Looking for a field trip idea? Interested in an interactive
learning experience? Want to give your students a chance to
meet with a federal judge? Need materials to help you teach
about the courts? Contact the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas for help!
Check out the program offerings:
https://go.ksbar.org/2nFWtqV.
Would you like an attorney to visit
your classroom to discuss the
Fourteenth Amendment?
Contact Anne Woods, Public Services Director, to arrange
for a KBA member to contact you and discuss options for
speaking with your students about the Fourteenth Amendment. Please include the grade level, specific areas to addres, and dates and times that would work for you. Email to
[email protected]
www.ksbar.org/lawwise
MARCH 2017 | LAW WISE 3
Lesson Plan
What Does It Mean to
Have Equal Protection of the Laws?
plied to corporations (persons under the law) and actual people
who are not citizens, as well as to American citizens.
Grades 7-9: Equal Protection
Source: American Bar Association
“All men are created equal,” states the Declaration of Independence. As a nation, we have spent more than two centuries
trying to live up to the truths set forth in the Declaration. Our
challenge seems to be that we talk a lot about equality but
don’t always agree on what the word means.
While the Declaration represents the power of our nation’s
ideals, it is the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, added 80 years after the Constitution was adopted, that
provides the legal basis for our evolving ideas of equality and
fairness.
This activity is designed to help students look at what equality has meant in the past and consider how courts apply the
concept of “equal protection of the law.”
(Links for accompanying handouts are at the bottom of this
page.)
Objectives
• To analyze the historical meaning of the equal protection
clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and how it is used today.
• To analyze the legal meaning of “equal protection of the
law” by examining case studies.
Procedures: The Historical Background
1. Ask students if all men were equal before the Civil War.
What was the main legally recognized inequality? (Slavery)
What were some others? (Women could not vote, serve on
juries, sometimes even hold property; sometimes even white
males could not vote if they did not own a certain amount of
property.)
2. Pass out the handout (https://go.ksbar.org/ABA14amendment) which follows and ask students to look at the words at
the top of the page from the Fourteenth Amendment. Ask:
Why did the writers of the Fourteenth Amendment include
these words? (Prohibited state laws abridging the rights of citizens; tried to guarantee that states could not deprive anyone of
“life, liberty, or property” without fair procedures [“due process of law”]; guaranteed that the law would protect people
equally.)
3. Explain that in the historical context, Congress was concerned that southern states, once readmitted to the Union,
would re-establish a fundamentally unfair legal system —
like that which existed before slavery — in which newly freed
slaves would have no legal rights and no protections in court.
4. However, the amendment was not designed only for the
newly freed slaves, since it refers to “persons.” It has been ap-
Procedures: Applying the Amendment
5. Does the Fourteenth Amendment require that everyone
be treated identically? (No, explain that many laws “discriminate” by treating some groups of people differently than others. Give some examples of laws that “discriminate” acceptably
(preventing 10 year-olds from getting a drivers license). Ask
students for other examples (different tax rates for different levels of income, etc.)
6. If “equal” is not the same as “identical,” what is it exactly?
Let’s look at some rules or laws that involve making distinctions among people.
7. Ask students to discuss the first situation on the handout.
Probably there will be many opinions and arguments pro and
con; fairness will come up, as will stereotyping by gender. Let
the discussion go for a short while, but at some point rein it in.
Explain that lots of criteria are in play, and many valid opinions are being expressed. However, when courts consider such
matters, they must have standards to guide decision. Explain
why courts develop and apply such standards. Then go over
with students how a court would (and did) approach this issue.
For example, you might explain how precedent helps courts
identify the principles they should apply in deciding the cases
before them. Explain that if courts did not have to look to past
decisions in deciding which principles to apply, people would
have no assurance that similar cases would be decided in a like
manner.
8. Before deciding whether a law that treats different classes of people differently violates the equal protection clause, a
court must determine which constitutional test to apply: the
“strict scrutiny” test; the intermediate, “substantial relationship” test; or the “rational basis” test. Write those three terms
on the board.
9. Explain that each test requires the court to ask and answer
a different question.
a. Strict scrutiny: Is the law narrowly tailored to be the least
restrictive means of accomplishing a “compelling” government interest?
b. Intermediate scrutiny: Is the law substantially related to
an “important” government interest?
c. R ational basis: Is the law reasonably related to a “legitimate” government interest?
10. Explain that while judges themselves often disagree on
which test to use in any given case, most agree the following
criteria are determinative:
www.ksbar.org/lawwise
4 LAW WISE | MARCH 2017
a. Strict scrutiny — Used in cases involving racial minorities or “fundamental interests” that are spelled out in the
Constitution.
b. Intermediate scrutiny — Used in cases involving gender
discrimination.
c. R ational basis — Used in cases involving any classifications that do not warrant strict or intermediate scrutiny.
11. Ask the students which test they think should be applied
in the case you are discussing and why. Explain the importance of selecting the right test. It is very difficult to uphold
a law once it is subjected to “strict scrutiny” and very difficult
to strike it down if it is only subject to “rational basis” review.
12. Don’t worry if you can’t get into more than one of these
situations. Perhaps the students can consider them in subsequent classes.
13. End with some discussion questions:
• What is the status of equality now?
• What would you want it to be?
• What debates about equality do you see in the future?
A set of four lesson plans found at https://go.ksbar.org/
CourtsClassReneReed teach the constitutional requirement
for due process of law by examining the case of Rene v. Reed,
751 N.E.2d 736 (Ind.App. 2001). In that case, Meghan Rene
and other disabled students argued that their due process
rights were violated by the state’s requirement that they had to
pass a graduation qualifying examination in order to graduate.
The four lesson plans are entitled: (1) “What Is ‘Due Process’
Anyway?”; (2) “What Is the Difference between Procedural
and Substantive Due Process?”; (3) “The Changing Meaning
of ‘Due Process’”; and (4) “Oral Arguments On-Line.” Each
lesson presents background information; states learning objectives; lists online resources; provides learning activities; and
suggests materials for further study. The site contains a glossary; a case summary; the Appellant’s Petition to Transfer; the
Appellee’s Opposition to Petition to Transfer; the “Order Denying Transfer”; and the Court of Appeals’ Opinion. Check
out those great resources provided by the Indiana Judicial
Branch. n
Handouts can be found at: https://go.ksbar.org/
EqualProtectionLaws at the bottom of the page.
Mock Trial
The regional competition took place on March 4 in Olathe and Wichita.
The following teams advanced to the state competition on March 31 – April 1 in Topeka:
Wichita Regional Results:
KC Regional Results:
1. The Independent School – Varsity B
2. Northeast Magnet High School
3. Sunrise Christian Academy
1. Shawnee Mission Northwest
2. Shawnee Mission East - G
3. Blue Valley Northwest – A
Shawnee Mission Northwest (l-r): Mary Hayford, Julianna Kantner,
Natalie Hole, Devyn Trondson, Olyvia Anothayanontha, Ashley Ellis
The Independent School – Varsity B (l-r): Back:, Emily Bishop,
Reid McConnaughey, Will Rowley, Ethan Chandler, Chase Farha.
Front row: Eliana Jacobsen, Elise Stancin
www.ksbar.org/lawwise
MARCH 2017 | LAW WISE 5
Te rri f ic Tec h nolog y for Tea c h e r s
US Government Fourteenth Amendment
https://go.ksbar.org/kids14amendment
Text of the Fourteenth Amendment.
https://go.ksbar.org/US14thAmendment
American Bar Association Law Day page
https://go.ksbar.org/ABALawDay2017
The differences between substantive and procedural due
process.
http://www.answers.com/topic/due-process
PBS: The Supreme Court for Educators. How history affects
Supreme Court Decisions and Supreme Court Decisions
Affect History: A look at the Fourteenth Amendment.
Suitable for grades 9-12
https://go.ksbar.org/14thAmendSupCt
US District Court of Kansas Education & Outreach
http://www.ksd.uscourts.gov/education-outreach/
Dear Readers,
Law Wise is provided as a public service and is a publication funded by the KBA Law Related Education Committee
through a grant from the Kansas Bar Foundation.
We are interested in your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions about current and future issues. In an effort to provide a format
for subscribers to share information, we have created a new way to register and to receive Law Wise. If you do not currently
receive Law Wise via your email inbox, but would like to, we need you to let us know. Here are some simple instructions to
do that.
How to Subscribe
Nonmembers:
We now request you have a FREE Educator account.
1. During the sign up process (www.ksbar.org/join), choose Educator.
2. Create a username, input your first and last name, and select “Law Wise” from the Education drop down menu.
Click Continue.
3. Create a password and complete the form.
4. You are now subscribed to Law Wise.
KBA Members:
FAQs
1. Please sign in.
2. Go to http://www.ksbar.org/LawWise.
3. Next, you click the Join Group icon near the top
of the Law Wise webpage.
We have a list of FAQs available
at
http://www.ksbar.org/LWFAQ.
The Kansas Bar Foundation, with Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) funding, provides support for this publication. Law Wise
provides general information about law-related matters of interest to teachers, students, and the public in Kansas, but does not provide any
legal advice, so readers should consult their own lawyers for legal advice. For further information about any projects or articles, contact
Anne Woods, public services director, (785) 234-5696. Law Wise is published by the Kansas Bar Association, 1200 SW Harrison St.,
Topeka, KS 66612-1806, during the school year.
www.ksbar.org/lawwise