ORDERDICKERSON V. UNITED STATES

FULL INSTRUCTIONS ON ORDERDICKERSON V. UNITED STATES: I will upload/attach case, Dickerson v. United States (.pdf) to this order that will need to be briefed on. Follow the below

instructions. Exactly. This order needs to be completed by Tuesday, May 7th by 9:30am.

HOW TO BRIEF A CASE

A case brief is a 1-2 page summary of the key points of a case. It is designed to serve as a studytool to allow you to review the most important aspects of a case without having to delve

backinto the case itself. The actual process of briefing a case also helps in understanding what youhave read. Use the headings below to brief your cases for this class.Each section of the case

brief is worth up to 4 points of your total score, with the exception of thecase information section, which is worth 1 point. In addition, points will be deducted for briefsthat do not use the

headings and sections described and for writing mechanics that interfere withthe reader’s understanding of the case brief. Use full sentences (and/or paragraphs whereapplicable) to answer the

questions below.

CASE INFORMATION: Name, date, full citation, page number in text.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS CASE? (FACTS): What actions did the parties engage in thatresulted in a crime? If a case is telling a story, this is the plot. Remember, the entire brief is only1-2 pages so

you do not need to go into excessive detail here. Use this section to highlight thefacts of the case that were important to the ultimate decision.

Although normally writing needs tobe

summarized in your own words with out excessive reliance on quotes, this is a little differentin that there is only so many ways to state the facts. Therefore, while the best briefs willsummarize, I

am not going to significantly downgrade as long as the paraphrases and quotes areadequately cited with page numbers. In this section, I am more interested in your ability toidentify and

highlight the key facts to the case, rather than the precise wording (again, as long asproperly cited).

HOW DID THE CASE GET TO THIS PARTICULAR COURT? (PROCEDURAL
HISTORY): What happened to the case in the court(s) below? Who won and who lost inprevious proceedings? You only have to provide this information to the extent it is provided inthe case. No

outside or additional research is required or expected.

WHAT LEGAL PROBLEM IS THIS COURT BEING ASKED TO SOLVE? (ISSUE
QUESTION): Every appellate case exists because the court is being asked to answer or solve alegal problem. Therefore, there is always a key question or questions the court is being asked

toanswer. Those questions are called the “issues” of the case (sometimes called the QuestionPresented in appellate briefs). Be careful here not to get overly broad. The issue is never going tobe:

“should the evidence be admitted?” The issue is always going to be more narrowly related tothe facts of the case. For example: “Does the fact that the defendant was underage andintoxicated

limit his ability to consent to a search?”. Do not be surprised if you find yourselfrepeating some of the facts in the issue question. That is usually a sign that you are on the righttrack with the

question.
Also, the court itself will often give you a clue by the signaling the issue by the use of the term “whether”. Feel free to use this issue question word for word (just cite to the page number). If

theU.S. Supreme Court is nice enough to provide us with the issue, who are we to argue?

HOW DID THE COURT ANSWER THE ISSUE QUESTION? (ANSWER/HOLDING):
This is the answer to your issue question above. If the issue question has been written correctly, this should either be “yes” or “no”. You do not need to repeat the question in your answer.

WHY DID THE COURT ANSWER THE ISSUE THE WAY IT DID? (REASONING): Do not skimp here. How did the court use the facts of the case as well as statues or previous cases tocome to its answer?

Be specific even if you end up repeating some of the facts from the sectionabove. Here in this section, I am looking for your own words and a summary of the Court’sreasoning with cites to the

examples of the wording of the Court. Unlike the FACTS section, along string of uninterrupted quotes without context is not appropriate.

DO YOU AGREE WITH THE COURT’S DECISION? Why or why not?
Note: Please remember to cite to the casebook and include page numbers in your cites. If a receive a brief without cites and page numbers, I will not grade it and you will have to move onto a

different case in a different topic to meet the requirements for this component of the course
CRJ 123-