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FantasySCOTUS.org

May 26th, 2010

FantasySCOTUS.org will be a Supreme Court fantasy league targeted towards high school classes that teach about the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and civics. In a partnership with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’siCivics, the site will be free for all teachers and students to use, starting in August 2010.
During the October 2010 Supreme Court term, the Institute,will select cases of special interest to students. These cases will focus primarily on constitutional issues, though other significant non-constitutional cases will also be considered. Each class will submit predictions for these ten cases, speculating as to the outcome of the case (Affirm or Reverse/Vacate), the split, and the Justices in the majority and in the dissent.
In addition to the predictions, classes will also hone their writing skills in a fun and interactive medium: blogging. Each classroom will maintain a blog, and students will write posts about each of the cases, including their analysis of the precedents, their thoughts about oral arguments, and predictions for the holding. While the predictions will be graded automatically, Institute personnel will be responsible for grading and critiquing the blog posts according to a predetermined scoring rubric. In addition, we will offer an interactive chat room and forum, where teachers and students can interact with each other, and learn more about the cases.
Classes will compete against other classes in small leagues . Depending how many classes sign up, we can create leagues based on states, regions, or other bases. At the end of the Supreme Court term, the team with the best score in each league and their teacher will receive a to-be-determined prize.
What makes FantasySCOTUS.org so effective for pedagogical purposes is that it is real. These are real cases that the students will read in the news. Leveraging the immense popularity of fantasy sports among teenagers, FantasySCOTUS.org will transform following the Supreme Court from a routine review of old cases into an exciting game of predicting live cases. Factoring in the competition aspect, as students will compete with other classes across the Nation, this engaging and interactive platform will make the Supreme Court speak to the students unlike ever before.
To learn more about FantasySCOTUS.org, and if you are interested in signing up, please visit ourFantasySCOTUS page.