31 Aug Brown V. Board of Education Analysis
If you remember the Syllabus (Section 15), you will recall that I want a Signature Assignment.Whats that? The Syllabus says its a written analysis using IRAC format of one of the chapterend cases. This analysis should be approximately 3-5 pages in length.Well, okay, but whats that mean? I want a short paper on any case in the textbook, althoughpreferably from a chapter we covered in this class, and please give me a citation: the case nameand either the official reporter (e.g., 131 S.Ct. 1207 (2011)) or the edition of Cheeseman that youare using and the page number. I want to be sure I can find your case.And I want IRAC. What are the parties are really fighting about? Thats the Issue. What law orlaws do you need to decide that Issue? Those are the Rules. How do you apply those Rules to thefacts? Thats the Analysis. Finally, tell me your Conclusion.The Issue is the critical question, so it should end in a question mark. The Rules are laws, andshould usually be able to complete the sentence, The relevant law states [] The Conclusionis the answer to the critical question.If you look in the Week 1 discussion, you can find an example by me of doing this kind of IRACanalysis, using the case of Brown v. EMA. There are also some fine examples in the weeklydiscussions by your fellow students.You are welcome to pull up the actual opinion online. In fact, I encourage it. Can you follow thecourts analysis? Do you agree with it? But do your own analysis in your paper. I do not want asummary of what the court said. I can read the opinion for myself. I want your analysis, althoughobviously you can borrow from the courts language, where you agree with it.I had one student a year or so back assure me that it was impossible to write 3 5 pages ofanalysis. I want to assure you that it is very possible, and I have posted in Week 8 a rather long too long example of what the analysis can look like, using the case of Snyder v. Phelps.If you get hung up on the length of the paper, you can always cut and paste from the onlineopinion, but put the quoted material in quotation marks. The part I will be looking at the mostclosely is the Analysis. Show me you can do that. If your Rule says you need X (maybe duty in anegligence case, or reliance in a fraud case), show me where that X is in your facts.
