Summarize the goals of the bill.

New Statutory Law and Case Law (8 points total)
Part I: Statutory Law
Research some pending legislation in Congress and see what your government is doing. Peruse the web sites of the House of Representatives and the Senate (www.house.gov (Links to an external site.) or www.senate.gov (Links to an external site.)).
Then go look at all the Federal legislation that is pending: www.congress.gov/search (Links to an external site.).
OR See what our Colorado Legislature is up to and pick a bill introduced in the 2022 Colorado legislative session:
https://leg.colorado.gov/ (Links to an external site.)
Choose some key words that interest you or scan through some of the bills that are pending. Note that “H.R.” (or HB in Colorado) indicates the bill was introduced by a member of the House of Representatives; “S” (or SB in Colorado) indicates that the bill initiated in the Senate.
Pick one bill, read the summary of the bill, or go to the text of the bill and scan the introduction.
What is the name of the bill? Summarize the goals of the bill. What do the sponsors of the bill hope to accomplish? Do you agree or disagree with their goals?
Part II: Supreme Court Decisions (Case Law)
For this exercise, use the Cornell Law Supreme Court site: www.law.cornell.edu/supct (Links to an external site.).
Or google “Cornell law supreme court cases.”
Peruse the website. Note that you can learn about current cases in front of the Court or you can go to the archives and look for cases under specific topics.
1) Who are the justices of the Supreme Court? Who is the Chief Justice? What does the Chief Justice do? (.5 point)
2) What are some of the features of the website that you find interesting? (note and explain two) (.5 point)
3) Supreme Court Decision Analysis (3 pts)
Go to the Archive of Decisions, click “By Topic”—1990 to Present—
Click on an area of law that interests you and find one case has been decided that has to do with a business issue; do not pick a death row case or criminal case, such as a murder conviction.
OR go to Current Awareness, click on Decisions this Term, and pick a case that has been recently decided by the Court.
For your summary of the case:
1) List the title of the case, 2) the citation, 3) a brief summary of the facts, 4) the issue in front of the Court (what is the Court deciding) 5) the Court’s holding (what did the Court decide), 6) the Court’s reasoning and finally 7) provide what you see as the implications of the Court’s decision in terms of public policy or the impact on our lives. Summarize in your own words.