The first four fields are the brief you already know from first year. The last four are what this course adds, and they are the whole point — they are the same four questions the Mini-Guide ends on. Do not skip them because they are harder than the facts.
Name: ______________________________
The case
Case name:
Year decided:
Doctrinal topic:
Opinions, by whom and for whom:
The first-year brief
Key facts:
Issues:
Holding or holdings:
Rationales:
What this course adds
1. Which sources are used in the assigned opinion or opinions?
Text · intent · precedent · history, tradition or experience · social or textual structure · natural law · the judge’s own values.
2. How is each used; to what effect, or toward which outcome?
3. Is their use in this opinion, to produce this outcome, consistent with their use in other similar or analogous opinions?
4. If not, why not?
Does logic, reason or a factual difference explain the inconsistency — or does the inconsistency seem to stem from a strategic manipulation of the sources to produce an inconsistent outcome?