Mock Trials in Social Science Government Classes

Hoover’s Social Science Government classes recently did a mock trial over two recent Supreme Court cases. As part of our unit on policymaking institutions students researched the cases and were assigned roles of either a judge, lawyer or law clerk. Previously we did a Mock Congress that examined the process of how a bill becomes a law and examined and analyzed an executive order. The students cases were United States v. Arizona and Phelps v. Snyder. The majority opinion for the cases were for the state of Arizona and Phelps. Students then wrote a reflection of the opinion and wrapped up their learning about the three branches of government.