Who are the parties to the lawsuit, what is their dispute, and how did they get to the Supreme Court?
Sample Case Brief Template
Case:
Name of the case, (and year of the decision).
Sample Case v. United States – 389 U.S. 347, 88 S. Ct. 507 (1967)
Facts:
Who are the parties to the lawsuit, what is their dispute, and how did they get to the Supreme Court? In your own words, only include the few important facts necessary to understand the case; e.g. the time of day a defendant was arrested is usually not important, etc.
Limit the facts to just the pertinent facts.
Issue:
What is the basic legal question regarding what specific provision of law that is to be decided in the case? The issue should be a question.
Holding:
This is the Answer to your issue question. Yes or No
Reasoning:
What was the final outcome and the court’s reasoning?