Spoiler Alert: When the Supreme Court Ruins Your Brief Problem Mid-Semester

Abstract

Partway through this past year’s winter semester (which is what we call it in Michigan), the Supreme Court ruined my favorite summary judgment brief problem while my students were working on it. I had decided to use the problem despite the Court’s cert grant and knowing it was just a matter of time before the Court issued its decision. In this essay, I share some of the lessons that I learned along the way. I conclude that, while I have not typically set out to use a brief problem on an issue pending in the Supreme Court, doing so has some meaningful benefits.

Keywords: legal writing, teaching, legal research, law school, legal research and writing, legal education, pedagogy

JEL Classification: K00