Civics Task Cards: Landmark Supreme Court Cases Judicial Branch Review

This Civics Task Cards: Landmark Supreme Court Cases Judicial Branch Review offers a fun, hands-on review of some of the most historic Landmark Supreme Court Cases! Which Bill of Rights Amendment connects to Tinker v. Des Moines? How did Brown v. Board of Education overturn Plessy v. Ferguson? This set of 32 task cards contains comprehension questions, vocabulary review, and quotation and picture analysis, perfect for middle or high school students reviewing Landmark Supreme Court Cases in Civics, American Government, or American History class! Use as test prep, review for the Civics EOC, individual practice, or class wide in an interactive gallery walk! 

Aligned to the following Florida State Standards for Middle School Civics (and easily applicable to other states, as well):

• SS.7.CG.3.11: Analyze the effects of landmark Supreme Court decisions on law, liberty and the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. 

This set of 32 Landmark Supreme Court Cases Civics Task Cards includes:

✯ Key vocabulary related to major Supreme Court cases:

• Vocab includes: Due Process, the Supremacy Clause, Miranda Warning, Fourteenth Amendment, “Separate but Equal”, segregation, rule of law, and more!

✯ Key concepts related to major Landmark Supreme Court Cases: Through multiple-choice, short-answer, quotation and picture analysis questions, these task cards review the main ideas and impact of our major landmark Supreme Court cases.

• Supreme Court cases included:
  • Marbury v. Madison
  • McCulloch v. Maryland
  • Dred Scott v. Sandford
  • Plessy v. Ferguson
  • Brown v. Board of Education
  • Gideon v. Wainwright
  • Miranda v. Arizona
  • In re Gault
  • United States v. Nixon
  • Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
  • Bush v. Gore.

✯ Sample Questions:

• This landmark Supreme Court case established that Congress does not have the power to make laws that override the Constitution of the United States. (McCulloch v. Maryland)
• This Supreme Court decision, which allowed students to wear armbands in a peaceful protest demonstration, established that students “do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gates.” (Tinker v. Des Moines)
• The ruling in Dred Scott v. Sanford played a crucial role in the conflict leading up to this war, which broke out four years later. (The Civil War)

Use these task cards to review for your Unit Test, Quarter Exam, or End of Course Exam! You can set up these task cards in a centers or stations activity, as a gallery walk, or play a class-wide game of Scoot! 

The non-editable, printable PDF comes with 2 versions of the task cards: a color, and an ink-saving Black & White set. 

I’ve also included an Answer Key and an optional 2-sided Student Response worksheet for students to log their answers. 

The digital version of these task cards are offered as a self-grading TPT Easel Assessment! TPT Easel assessments can be assigned directly to your Google Classroom, or shared with students on your preferred LMS with a URL!

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