CASE BRIEF GUIDELINES
Task: You are writing a case summary (referred to as a brief) to provide a quick reference on a specific U.S.
Supreme Court case. In addition to the normal information required for a case brief, you will be asked to find
two sources regarding each case to use in the “Case Significance” portion of your brief. Each brief needs to
include more than just the information on the case in your textbook!
Mechanical Requirements: Each brief must be one to two pages in Times New Roman 12 point font, with
bold headings, and one inch margins all around. The paper must be single-spaced and follow the format on the
following page. You must turn in a hard paper copy of the brief. If more than one page, the pages must be
stapled together.
Case: You may select any case listed on the syllabus for the course, except Marbury v. Madison (1803), Eakin
v. Raub (1825), and United States v. E.C. Knight Co. (1895).
Style Requirements: Chicago Manual of Style footnotes must be used for citations. For information on how to
create a footnote citation in this style visit the Chicago Manual of Style on the library website and/or see:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/03/ https://www.ivcc.edu/stylebooks/stylebook5.aspx?
id=14646
When in doubt, cite! Anyone caught plagiarizing will fail the assignment.
Sources: A minimum of TWO sources must be used from the following categories: academic or law journals,
academic books, edited academic book chapters, government publications, and/or opinions from other cases.
For all sources except the cases, more recent publications are better. Your textbook, the case you are briefing,
and lecture materials should be cited, but do not count as a source