Case Brief

About this AssignmentIn this course you learned that employment law is constantly evolving and responding to
temporary issues. For this assignment, you will be researching a contemporary employment
law case decided by the United States Supreme Court. When considering what qualifies as a
‘contemporary employment law case’, please consider a law case that raises a legal question (or
questions) related to the workplace and employer-employee relationships and that has been
presented to the U.S. Supreme Court within the last 5 years. You will be preparing a case brief
of the case you research.
For help locating U.S. Supreme Court cases, see:
• Supreme Court of the United States
• Justia
Your case brief should be approximately 600-800 words (not including your Reference page) in
length. Use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font and one-inch margins. Use distinct
headings to clearly identify each element (prompt) of your case brief.
Case Brief Prompts
Your case brief should include each of the following elements:
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•
•
•
•
•
Procedural History: What is the history of the selected case? What prior courts heard the
case? What were the rulings of the involved prior courts?
Facts: What are the critical facts of the case? Identify the parties and the facts that were
considered in the Court’s ultimate holding.
Issues: What were the specific legal question(s) presented to the Court? Present the
issues in clear and concise question format. If there were multiple legal questions, list
each issue separately.
Holding (Decision): How did the Court answer the issues? What was the Court’s final
decision with respect to each issue?
Court Rationale: Summarize of the Court’s reasoning. Why did the Court rule in the way
that it did? How (and why) did the Court arrive at its ultimate answers to the legal
issues?
Analysis: Share an original analysis and interpretation of the case and the Court’s ruling.
What is the case’s significance? How has the case impacted our courts? How has the
case impacted our government and/or our citizens? Do you agree with the Court’s
analysis?
Using Sources
You may refer to the course material for supporting evidence, but you must also use at least
two credible, outside sources and cite them using APA format. Identify any source in your
Reference page. Any laws and legal cases used in the body of your paper must also be included
in the References page.
Please include a mix of both primary and secondary sources. At least one of your sources
should be the case opinion.
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•
Primary sources are first-hand accounts such as interviews, advertisements, speeches,
company documents, statements, and press releases published by the company in
question within the case you selected.
Secondary sources come from peer-reviewed scholarly journals, such as the American
Business Law Journal. You may use resources like JSTOR, Google Scholar, Cornell
University Law School’s Legal Information Institute and/or FindLaw to find articles from
these journals and related case law. Secondary sources may also come from reputable
websites with .gov, .edu, or .org in the domain. (Wikipedia is not a reputable source,
though the sources listed in Wikipedia articles may be acceptable.)
Grading Rubric
Your case brief will be graded on the following rubric:
Category
Unacceptabl
e (0-1)
Procedural
History
Procedural
history is
lacking or
summarized
in an illogical
or
significantly
difficult to
understand
manner.
Facts
Brief does not
provide a
summary of
the case’s
Needs
Improvemen
t (2-3)
Good (4)
Excellent (5)
Total
Possible
Points
Procedural
history is
partially
summarized,
history is
disjointed or
hard to
follow.
Procedural
history is
summarized
fully.
Procedural
history is
clearly
explained.
Summary
uses specific
details and
clear and
relevant
terminology.
5
Brief shares a
partial
summary of
the case’s
Brief shares a
thorough
summary of
the case’s
Brief shares a
rich and
5
comprehensiv
e summary of
critical facts.
Brief does not
identify those
facts that
influenced the
court’s
holding.
critical facts.
Brief does not
identify all
facts that
influenced the
court’s
holding.
critical facts.
Brief
identifies all
facts that
influenced the
court’s
holding.
the case’s
critical facts.
Brief
identifies all
facts that
influenced the
court’s
holding and
uses clear and
specific
details
throughout.
Issues
Brief does not
identify the
specific legal
issues before
the court.
Brief
identifies only
one of several
legal issues
before the
court.
Brief fully
identifies all
relevant legal
issues.
Brief
identifies the
legal issues
before the
court and
uses
specificity
and/or detail.
Holding
Brief provides
a summary of
Brief does not
the court’s
provide a
final decision
summary of
regarding
the court’s
only one of
final decision
several legal
in the case.
issues raised
in the case.
Brief provides
a full
summary of
the court’s
final decision
in the case in
all legal issues
raised in the
case.
Brief provides
a summary of
the court’s
final decision
5
in the case
and uses
specificity
and/or detail.
Rationale
Brief provides
an
explanation of
Brief does not
the rationale
provide an
underlying
explanation of
the court’s
the rationale
final decision
underlying
regarding
the court’s
only one of
holding.
several legal
issues raised
in the case.
Brief provides
an
Brief provides explanation of
a full
the rationale
explanation of underlying
the rationale the court’s
5
underlying
final decision
the court’s
in the case
final decision. and uses
specificity
and/or detail.
5
Analysis
Brief shares a
cursory
analysis of the
case and its
Brief does not
implications.
share an
Analysis lacks
original
detail and/or
analysis of the
fails to
case and its
incorporate
implications.
any relevant
examples
from scholarly
resources.
Brief shares a
rich, original
analysis of the
Brief shares a
case and its
thorough and
implications.
original
Analysis
5
analysis of the
incorporates
case and its
relevant
implications.
examples
from scholarly
resources.
Mechanics
Incorrect
spelling,
punctuation,
capitalization,
use of
standard
English
grammar
and/or format
hinders
understandin
g.
Few instances
of incorrect
spelling,
punctuation,
capitalization,
usage of
standard
English
grammar
and/or
format.
Several
instances of
incorrect
spelling,
punctuation,
capitalization,
usage of
standard
English
grammar
and/or
format.
No or very
few instances
of incorrect
spelling,
punctuation,
capitalization,
usage of
standard
English
grammar
and/or
format.
5