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FIRAC Worksheet
Appendix B: Briefing and Analyzing Cases in Constitutional Law offers a model to brief a court case. FIRAC stands for Facts, Issue, Rule(s), Analyze, and Conclusion. Read about this model and see an example of it in Appendix B. Then, select a United States Supreme Court case on the First Amendment and complete a FIRAC analysis using the worksheet below.
SUPREME COURT case:
Miranda v. Arizona
FACTS: Lay out the facts of the case. (200 words)
The Miranda v. Arizona case was 1 of 4 cases that the supreme court addressed involved police interrogations in that the defendants were questioned by police officers. In this case particularly Miranda was a young boy who at the time was in the 9th grade when he was accused of rape and kidnapping. After the courts found him guilty he was sentenced to 20 – 30 years of imprisonment. Miranda was found to be mentally unstable and appealed to the courts advocating that he confessed these crimes that he did not commit because he was under duress and feared for his safety from the authorities when he was being interrogated. After appealing to the Arizona courts and being denied Miranda appealed to the supreme courts to review his case. In 1966 the Supreme Court ruled in a 5 – 4 majority that they were in favor of Miranda.
ISSUE: Identify the legal issue.(50 words)
RULE: What provision of the First Amendment applies to the issue you have defined? (50 words)
ANALYZE: Analyze the case, applying the law to the facts of the case. (300 words)
CONCLUSION: Draw a conclusion. (200 words)
