H O UG H T O N MIF F L IN by Lisa Scorza PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover Hisham F Ibrahim © Digital Stock © JUPITERIMAGES/Brand X/Alamy Hisham F Ibrahim (l) © Eyewire (c) © Eyewire (r) Hisham F Ibrahim © Eyewire © MATTHEW CAVANAUGH/ epa/Corbis © Richard A Bloom/Corbis Photograph Franz Jantzen, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States © Bettmann/CORBIS 10 © Michael Dwyer/Alamy Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers, Attn: Permissions, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777 Printed in China ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02132-4 ISBN-10: 0-547-02132-1 0940 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers retains title to the materials and they may not be resold Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or any portion of it, into electronic format Introduction Sometimes people think laws are unfair Let’s say you think that you should be able to go to any school you want But the law says you can’t What you do? You go to court In court, the two sides argue about how a law should work The court decides which side is right When people disagree about a law, they may take their argument to court The Supreme Court meets in this building in Washington, D.C When other courts can’t answer questions about a law, the Supreme Court may get involved The Supreme Court is the most important court in the land What Is the Supreme Court? The people who formed our government were convinced that the power to make decisions should not belong to just one person So they separated power into three parts, or branches One branch is the judicial branch, which is made up of our nation’s courts The courts protect our rights They keep them safe Each branch of our government keeps the other branches from having too much power The words above the front door of the Supreme Court building read, “Equal Justice Under Law.” The Supreme Court’s job is to explain the law The court does this by deciding who is right in a case The Supreme Court does not decide who is guilty of crimes It only makes sure that laws are fair, honest, and legal These nine justices are on the Supreme Court today How Does the Supreme Court Work? The Supreme Court has nine justices, or judges The president of the United States picks them The Senate then votes for or against them The justices serve for life The Supreme Court meets in this room The Supreme Court meets in a special room Lawyers from each side of a case make speeches There is no trial There is no jury No witnesses take the stand The justices are there only to hear about the law Justices meet once a week in a conference room to decide cases After the speeches, the justices talk about the case They meet in a private room behind closed doors All you can hear is the murmur of their voices Then the justices vote Months later, the court gives a decision about the case, based on whether they think the law is fair The decision is final Only the Supreme Court can change its own decisions Earl Warren was Chief Justice during the case that ended separate schools for black and white children The court only hears a few cases each year, but those cases can change the laws and our lives One famous case changed our schools The court had to decide if it was fair to have separate schools for black and white children The justices pointed to the Constitution, which said that everyone had the same rights So the nine justices decided that separate schools were illegal because they were not equal or fair Conclusion The Supreme Court has a special job The court makes sure that our laws are fair It makes rules and laws that work for everyone The Supreme Court works for us all 10 Responding Word Builder The word stand has multiple meanings Copy this word web and list different meanings in the circles TARGET VOCABULARY something to place things on put up with stand ? ? Write About It Text to Self Write a short paragraph telling when you took a stand, or position, on something Tell why you took a stand and what it meant to you 11 TARGET VOCABULARY convinced guilty honest jury murmur pointed stand trial Infer/Predict Use clues to figure out more about the selection TARGET STRATEGY Which word has a sound so nice, they spelled it twice? 12 Level: M DRA: 28 Social Studies Strategy: Infer/Predict Word Count: 583 3.1.2 Build Vocabulary HOUGHTON MIFFLIN Online Leveled Books ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02132-4 ISBN-10: 0-547-02132-1 1032017 ... Harcourt School Publishers, Attn: Permissions, 627 7 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32 887-6777 Printed in China ISBN- 13 : 978-0-547- 02 13 2 -4 ISBN -10 : 0-547- 02 13 2 -1 0940 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 ... twice? 12 Level: M DRA: 28 Social Studies Strategy: Infer/Predict Word Count: 5 83 3 .1. 2 Build Vocabulary HOUGHTON MIFFLIN Online Leveled Books ISBN- 13 : 978-0-547- 02 13 2 -4 ISBN -10 : 0-547- 02 13 2 -1 1 0 32 017 ... the murmur of their voices Then the justices vote Months later, the court gives a decision about the case, based on whether they think the law is fair The decision is final Only the Supreme Court