Overview: Are there limits to the freedom of speech guaranteed in the First Amendment? Is it necessary to balance an individual's freedom of expression against the community's need for law and order? This video explores these questions by following the appeal proceedings of a defendant who has been convicted of disturbing the peace after giving a pro-Nazi speech.

Overview: The Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination protects the accused against coerced confessions. But what happens to this and other constitutional guarantees under the impact of advanced technologies? This video follows a hearing that will test the constitutionality of a futuristic "truth machine" used during interrogations.

Overview: This 2-part videotape examines free speech as represented by the issue of flag burning as a form of protest against the U.S. government.

Overview: What happens if laws are broken or life is endangered through the free exercise of religion? In this video, attorneys in an emergency hearing argue the constitutional issues involved in a transfusion case. Should the judge order the transfusion that would save the life of a woman and her unborn child over the vehement religious objections of the woman and her husband?

Overview: This video follows two young men, accused of misdemeanor offenses, from their arrest through their arraignment and trial. It stresses the importance of due process of law and explains why constitutional safeguards are important to the accused.

Overview: The First Amendment says that Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of the press. But does this mean that a reporter can refuse to cooperate in a criminal investigation in order to protect the name of his source for a news story? Unlike other citizens, can he plead a special privilege not to answer questions before a grand jury?

Overview: The Fifth Amendment guarantees due process of law. But when should due process, which is time consuming, give way to summary punishments in order to avoid the immediate threat of violence and anarchy? This question is argued by attorneys in a hearing to reinstate a student who has been summarily suspended after a campus demonstration.

Overview: The integration of a school system, when a city has substantially segregated neighborhoods, presents great difficulties. This video shows the divisiveness that develops in a community over a school-busing plan. The differences of opinion that arise have to do with cost and the integrity of the neighborhood school, as well as with integration.

Overview: Does capital punishment comprise a cruel and unusual punishment under the Eight Amendment? Is it an effective deterrent against crime? Is the concept of retribution a desirable aspect of our legal system? These and other questions are argued in depth by attorneys in the sentencing phase of a trial for a convicted murderer.

Overview: This videotape explores some of the views surrounding the controversial issue of drug testing in public schools.

Overview: Who determines what is and what is not constitutional? In 1803, this landmark case established the Supreme Court's responsibility to review the constitutionality of congressional acts. This video looks at that responsibility and describes how two of our nation's greatest statesmen, President Thomas Jefferson and Chief Justice John Marshall, confronted each other over the relative power of the judicary.

Overview: Can states tax the operations of the federal government? In an unpopular 1819 ruling, Maryland's attempt to tax a federally chartered bank was struck down by the Supreme Court. Dealing a great blow to proponents of states' rights, the decision for McCulloch strongly expressed the doctrine of implied powers in the Constitution and reaffirmed the vitality of the federal government.

Overview: Who has the authority to regulate commerce, the states or Congress? In this 1824 case, the Supreme Court, following Chief Justice John Marshall's philosophy of centralized power, ruled that Congress has authority over the states to regulate commerce.

Overview: Should the President of the United States have to appear in court when a judge requires him to be a witness? Is an accused traitor entitled to the fair trial rights guaranteed by the Constitution? In this 1806 case, Chief Justice John Marshall saved former Vice-President Burr from execution and set a precedent for preventing government abuse of the treason charge.

Overview: This 5-part videotape draws on interviews with former Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan.

Overview: This video shows two communities coming to grips with discriminatory practices that have been declared unconstitutional. One community deals with segregated schools and housing, the other with discriminatory hiring practices.

Overview: This video deals with Fourth Amendment issues related to the government's responsibility to control crime and the constitutional rights of the accused.

Overview: This video explores where authority resides and how power works in our federal system of government.

Overview: The civil rights era was a time of awakening and dramatic change in the United States. Through the inspiring personal accounts of four remarkable women, the civil rights movement tells the story of this turbulent time.

Overview: Victims and perpetrators of anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic hate crimes are interviewed in this tape from the Anti-Defamation League.

Overview: This video shows teenagers in an ethnically diverse New York City junior high school talk about their painful experiences as victims of bigotry while revealing their own prejudices and stereotypes. Appropriate for large assemblies, as well as the classroom.

Overview: This video examines the story of Ernest Green, who in 1957 was one of nine African-American students who helped integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Green's case demonstrates some important principles underlying the study of constitutional rights where rights originate, how they are enforced and what one citizen can do to claim his or her rights.

Overview: In 1776, George Mason drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a document that became the principal source for the federal Bill of Rights. In this video, Mason wanders through his home at Gunston Hall while sharing his thoughts behind his refusal to ratify the Constitution without a Bill of Rights.

Overview: Produced by the State Bar of Wisconsin, this video explains the role of the three branches of government and shows the relationship between the judicial branch and the other branches as shown in a fictitious case. Geared towards middle school students.

Overview: This videotape explores the controversial issues surrounding immigration and tells the stories of two recent immigrants to America.

Overview: In this video, the debate over gun control focuses on the experiences of a young girl who lost a friend to random gun violence and a woman who purchased a gun to protect herself against an abusive ex-husband. A teacher's guide is available upon request.

Overview: The 1985 Supreme Court decision in Wallace v. Jaffree is discussed in this video by parent Ishmael Jaffree, legal experts, elected officials and religious leaders. A teacher's guide is available upon request.

Overview: Recent Supreme Court decisions have recognized a difference between the constitutional rights of adults and those of students. This video examines the results of such decisions by looking at freedom of the press in schools, in addition to cases that address freedom of expression and of religion.

Overview: Produced by the Jefferson County Bar, this video examines the financial and legal issues that arise when an unwed teenage mother tries to establish paternity for her three month old daughter. At the end of the video, the two lead actors discuss how teenage pregnancy changed their real lives. A teacher's guide is available upon request.

Overview: This video follows a student who wants to check out To Kill a Mockingbird from the school library, only to find that the book has been pulled off the shelf for evaluation. The drama follows T.J. as he gets angry over the situation and decides to research his rights in relation to censorship. As a result, he learns about the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment.

Overview: This video, about a teenage girl who incriminates herself in order to protect her boyfriend, introduces viewers to the juvenile justice system and basic legal procedures. Legal terminology is also explained.

Overview: Blends information about jury service with the dramatized stories of citizens directly touched by the constitutional right to trial by jury. This video is appropriate for students in junior high school, high school, or college-level civics classes.

Overview: This live-action videotape explores the modern day form of democracy by helping students better understand their role in a democratic society.

Overview: This live-action video examines the arrest of Bill Thomas during a drug bust and gives your students an opportunity to assume the role of judge and make the decision to place Bill in jail or to continue his probation.

Overview: A 2-part live-action video that involves students first as jurors, then as legislative drafters, and finally as trial lawyers, judges and witnesses. This hands-on learning experience teaches a deep appreciation of our judicial and constitutional systems.

Overview: This video explores the history of affirmative action in the U.S. and examines its successes, failures, and future.

Overview: This video examines the stories of four Americans who took their cases to the Supreme Court - cases that defined and extended rights to all American citizens.

Overview: This video illustrates the Court’s case-deciding and administrative functions and includes comments from all seven justices. The video was made in 2003 in honor of the WI Supreme Court's 150th anniversary.

Overview: Henry Fonda stars as Clarence Earl Gideon, a Florida convict whose handwritten petition to the Supreme Court in 1962 caused a legal revolution. Unable to afford legal counsel, Gideon had been convicted without the benefit of a court-appointed attorney. Jose Ferrer appears as noted attorney Abe Fortas, who successfully argued before the Court that Gideon was denied due process as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Overview: Narrated by Robert Redford, this documentary chronicles the legal battles of both AIM (the American Indian Movement) and member Leonard Peltier after the death of two FBI agents near the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. The video examines the case against Peltier, suggesting that evidence was falsified and witnesses pressured to ensure Peltier's murder conviction after the largest manhunt in FBI history.

Overview: Originally broadcast on Wisconsin Public TV, this program features host Dave Iverson and one hundred students discussing youth violence, its causes and potential solutions. The program also follows several Wisconsin youth and explores how violence has touched their lives.

Overview: This documentary parallels the civil rights movement with the life of its chief legal architect, Charles Hamilton Houston. The video tracks Houston, who used constitutional law to undermine the segregated social structure, from the activism of his WWI service and law school days to his tenure as Dean of Howard University Law School. The nightmare world of "separate but equal" America is shown in archival footage, and Houston's legal challenges to Jim Crow laws are also recalled in eyewitness accounts.

Overview: What did the jury see in the courtroom in Simi Valley? Was the jury's verdict supported by the evidence? Court TV has condensed 150 hours of coverage into a video that presents the key portions of both the prosecution and defense cases, as well as the entire 81-second amateur video from the evening of March 3, 1991.

Overview: At the trial of a teenager accused of killing his father, one conscientious man pits himself against his eleven fellow jurors. Henry Fonda plays the genteel liberal who gradually persuades the rest of the jury to reconsider their hasty conviction of the boy in this movie directed by Sidney Lumet.

Overview: A video produced by and for teenagers, this documentary explores how stereotypes influence interaction with "others" who are perceived as being "different". This video is an excellent starter for a multicultural curriculum, conflict resolution and human dynamics training.

Overview: A runaway slave, an abolitionist, civil disobedience and Wisconsin. A documentary focusing on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the federal courts and the state's rights movement. Presented by Wisconsin Public Television in cooperation with the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Overview: An American Portrait tells the story of Wisconsin and its people, a story rooted in a deep love of the land and an unsurpassed work ethic that goes back generations.

Overview: This video chronicles some of the stories of Wisconsin's first women admitted to the Bar. The stories of these women are great history lessons for us all, and help us understand the development of Wisconsin's justice system. Many of these women had to overcome almost insurmountable odds, trying to establish themselves at a time when women were not only discouraged, but also in some cases, prevented from doing so.

Overview: Superior and Sheboygan South high schools argue a truancy petition against Jordan Michael who claims he is being home-schooled.

Overview: Rhinelander and Sheboygan South high schools argue a waiver hearing of a juvenile accused of murdering his neighbor in a garage fire that started while the boy was playing in the garage.

Overview: Rhinelander and Superior high schools argue what, if anything, should be done with a student whose disability may have manifested itself in the form of behavior which is arguably dangerous to others.

Overview: Teams from Texas and Florida argue whether or not Native American funerary objects should be returned to the Atalan Nation or displayed in the Columbus State Historical Museum. This national championship was held in Madison, Wisconsin.

Overview: Teams from California and Rhode Island argue the sports bribery case involving baseball player "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and other Chicago White Sox players in the 1919 World Series.

Overview: Teams from Arizona and Michigan argue over whether or not the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club is responsible for the historical Johnstown Flood when the dam, on the South Fork property, broke and killed hundreds of people.

Overview: Teams from Georgia and Guam argue a murder case based on Tony Hillerman's novel, Dance Hall of the Dead.

Overview: Teams from Washington and North Carolina argue a wrongful death case in which a young man allegedly met his death after falling from a closed down roller coaster.

Overview: Rhinelander High School and Marquette University High School argue a wrongful death claim against the Clearwater Sheep and Cattle Company for polluting a stream with farm runoff containing cryptosporidium.

Overview: Rhinelander High School and Superior High School argue a criminal case involving the battery of a student that was instigated allegedly by the assumption that the student was queer.

Overview: Teams from Iowa and New Jersey argue a case involving possession of a controlled substance found in a student’s backpack. Were the drugs planted in an attempt to make the student lose his class status?

Overview: Teams from Tennessee and Colorado argued a civil case that focused on voter fraud in a student council president election.

Overview: Rhinelander High School and La Crosse Central High School argue a criminal case modified from an actual case from Madison, Wisconsin in 1911. Little Annie Lemberger disappeared from her home. Annie’s body was found floating in the bay near the foot of Erin

Overview: Rhinelander High School and La Crosse Central High School argue a civil case. The plaintiff, Cort Amour, was allegedly injured by a bartender, Lee Nash, during a night of partying at a local hangout, Michelle's Place. Amour has sued for damages as a result of injuries he/she suffered when the bartender tried to break up a fight. Amour's claim is against Nash for his/her resulting injuries and against Michelle's Place for the negligent hiring, training, and supervision of Nash.

Overview: (Available in DVD format only.) Rhinelander High School and Xavier High School argue for and against a pardon of Karleton Armstrong. Armstrong and three co-conspirators detonated the bomb which destroyed Sterling Hall and killed Robert Fassnacht on the UW Madison campus. In this fictitious mock trial, Mr. Armstrong has asked the Governor for a pardon of his conviction for 2nd degree homicide.

Overview: Rhinelander High School and Shorewood High School argue whether the driver of the car that struck 13 year old Reggie Dunlap was negligent after the driver admitted that he was talking on a cell phone at the time of the accident.