Considering the Supreme Court as Teachers by Henry “Cody” Miller

Considering the Supreme Court as Teachers

Recently, I shared an overview of a course I’m teaching this semester on Twitter for young adult literature recommendations. The course is an undergraduate foundations one entitled “Education and Society.” Rather than focus specifically on the history of education, I decided to rethink the course from the angle of the Supreme Court. That is, what do Supreme Court cases — both commendable ones and ones that sustain the oppressive systems that built this country —  tell us about how schools are positioned in our social, historical, and political landscape?

Hey y'all, I need recommendations.

I'm teaching a class using @Bob__Kim's excellent book on 10 SCOTUS cases all Ts should know.

We're doing YAL lit circles to understand how the Court's decisions impact people's everyday lives. Anyone have recs for the two topics I'm missing? pic.twitter.com/pEenf41uHw

— Cody Miller (@CodyMillerELA) January 9, 2021

Specifically, we’re investigating how the Supreme Court has used its constitutional power to enact equity and justice and conversely, how the Supreme Court has used its constitutional power to thwart attempts at equity and justice. The overwhelming positive response to the tweet has led me to fortify my belief that K-12 teachers should cultivate an understanding of the Supreme Court and the ramifications its decisions have on the daily realities of educators, students, and communities.   

Developing such an understanding isn’t necessarily straightforward. The Supreme Court is notoriously governed by arcane and esoteric rules and procedures. In fact, the very attire the Court wears seems to suggest their work and happenings are beyond the approach of the general public, what legal scholar Jerome Frank called the “cult of the robe.” I believe the general public and the judicial branch are best served when the latter clearly understands the role of the former. I myself am not a lawyer nor did I attend law school. However, these lack of credentials do not stop the Supreme Court’s decisions from outlining parameters for my life as a queer educator.      

I’ve spent the last decade of my life reading and obsessing about the Supreme Court. I like to braid ideas and topics from the Supreme Court to conversations about literature and the way we envision the humanities and civic life. I’d like to share some resources that help my continued understanding of the Supreme Court and its impact on students, educators, and communities. By no means is this list exhaustive, rather it is a starting point for those who need it.  

Elevating Equity and Justice: 10 U.S. Supreme Court Cases Every Teacher Should Know by Robert Kim. Kim’s book acts as the anchor text in the course I outlined at the beginning. Simply put, the book is about the Supreme Court written specifically for K-12 teachers. Kim provides an overview of the major cases and documents where he believes the Supreme Court worked towards justice and when the Supreme Court stood in the way of progress. Each chapter leaves more cases for further learning and explicitly connects the court to classroom realities by including teacher vignettes.  

Five Four Pod. A podcast dedicated to documenting “how much the Supreme Court sucks,” 5-4 features three legal writers outlining the rulings that have set barriers in achieving equity and justice in the United States. I appreciate how the hosts always center the real, tangible impact decisions will have on people in the present and future. The episodes also help connect dots between more widely known cases and less known, but equally impactful, decisions. For instance, a recent episode covered the 2007 case Morse v. Frederick, in which the Court severely curtailed the rights of student speech. While the case is ostensibly about one student in Alaska, the hosts detail how the case set a dangerous precedent for students seeking to challenge oppressive social hierarchies. Their analysis, which combines history, cultural studies, and legal theory, is crucial for understanding the past and current construction of the Supreme Court. The hosts are also very funny, which never hurts.   

Strict Scrutiny Podcast. Another Supreme Court podcast, but one that focuses more on “Court culture.” This podcast works to unveil the Supreme Court’s innerworkings, including how decisions are made and why. Equally important, the hosts consider how those decisions are shaped by larger socio-political forces, and what impact said decisions will take on people in the civic sphere.      

It's here! Our episode with @FilmmakerJulie @Betsywest & @talleahmcmahon, the team behind the WONDERFUL film "My Name Is Pauli Murray," previewing at Sundance NEXT WEEK!https://t.co/58lbiQirOX pic.twitter.com/hy7IZfXXnv

— Strict Scrutiny Podcast (@StrictScrutiny_) January 25, 2021

A Thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare’s Plays Teach Us About Justice by Kenji Yoshino. Legal theorists Kenji Yoshino documents how Shakespeare’s work can inform our own understanding of the law by drawing on the Bard’s plays. Yoshino writes for audiences outside of legal academia, which I appreciate. At the heart, his work suggests how we can analyze all types of texts to consider the legal ideologies that underpin them, and what those ideologies and texts teach us about concepts of legality. Additionally, the book has several implications for teaching Shakespeare’s work in English classes.  

Again, these resources are not exhaustive. There are several books, blogs, public writers, and podcasts that can inform our understanding of the Supreme Court. My call is for more teachers to take up the Supreme Court’s impact as part of professional learning about our field. Robert Kim reminds us that “educators act in ways, whether consciously or unconsciously, that have legal implications on a daily basis.” My belief is that these resources will make the legal forces animating said actions more visible.   

Follow Dr. Miller on Twitter @CodyMillerPKY.

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