Alabama Social Studies SS24.USG.6e
The Standard
- SS24.USG.6
- Summarize the functions and duties of the judicial branch, including the power of judicial review and interpretation of laws.
Describe the significance of Alabama landmark cases that impacted American society and governance.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain the dispute, ruling, and national impact of three Alabama cases: Gomillion v. Lightfoot, Reynolds v. Sims, and New York Times v. Sullivan. They connect the rulings to voting rights, representation, and criticism of public officials.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain how Tuskegee's boundary change kept Black residents from voting in city elections and why the Court rejected it. They can explain Reynolds's equal-population rule and the proof Sullivan requires in a public official's libel suit.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think Gomillion was only about an oddly shaped map, rather than the loss of Black residents' city votes. They may think Reynolds required equal turnout, or that Sullivan's "actual malice" means personal dislike.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: In three sentences, explain the Alabama dispute behind Reynolds v. Sims, what the Court ruled, and one effect on state elections nationwide.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a printed before-and-after map of Tuskegee; have them mark who lost city voting rights when the boundary changed.
Ask: Why could a vote in a crowded Alabama district count for less than a vote in a smaller district before Reynolds?
Hand out nine cards with case names, facts, and rulings for Gomillion, Reynolds, and Sullivan; teams race to make three correct sets.
Use a fictional local news story accusing a mayor of bribery; ask what proof the mayor would need to win a libel suit.
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Related Standards
- SS24.AS.16
Explain how major Alabama civil rights campaigns brought about federal action and the resulting expansion of civil and human rights.
- SS24.5.12b
Trace the chronology of civil rights events in Alabama and across the nation, and summarize how they impacted one another.
- SS24.USG.6d
Explain how landmark United States Supreme Court cases have shaped the constitutional interpretation and expansion of civil liberties and civil rights.
- SS24.US1.19b
Summarize political and social motives that influenced the writing of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, and explain its effect on politics and economics in A...
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