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An essay and video contest for high school students in the western United States and the Pacific Islands

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SUBMIT YOUR

SUBMIT Your

The Ninth Circuit Civics Contest is not accepting additional responses at this time. If you have questions or had issues uploading your essay or video, please email us at civicscontest@ce9.uscourts.gov

70 Years Later—The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education

2024 marks the 70th anniversary of the United State Supreme Court’s 1954 landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education. In Brown, a unanimous Supreme Court held that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine that it had adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson, an 1896 case that addressed whether states could legally require railroad companies to provide equal but separate accommodations for passengers of different races.

 

Brown v. Board of Education is widely accepted as one of the most momentous Supreme Court decisions, but views differ regarding what impact it has had on the law and our society.

In addressing this topic, discuss what impact you
think Brown has had and why.
The following are
some examples of questions that you could consider
in thinking about these issues:

 

  • Did Brown influence changes in the law, or in society, beyond the decision in that case, or were any changes that happened after Brown inevitable?

  • Did Brown affect the way that Americans view the Supreme Court, or affect how Supreme Court conducts itself?

  • Should the Supreme Court consider how its decision on a particular subject impacts society, or how the decision is viewed by the public?

The 2024 Ninth Circuit Civics Contest is open to high school students in nine western states and two Pacific
island jurisdictions. Students from public, private, parochial and charter schools as well as homeschooled
students of equivalent grade status may enter.

 

The contest is organized by the Ninth Circuit Public Information and Community Outreach (PICO) Committee.

 

Both essays and videos can be submitted electronically starting January 8, 2024. Deadline for entries has been extended to Friday, March 15, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time.

 

For more information, email us at civicscontest@ce9.uscourts.gov.

Website graphic collage: original graphics with photograph of Nettie Hunt, sitting on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building, explaining the significance of the court’s May 17, 1954, desegregation ruling to her daughter, Nikie. Photo by UPI Tele/Files, New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Collection, Prints and Photographs Division (Library of Congress).

2023 Winning Video Entries

2023 Ninth Circuit Civics Essay Contest 

District Level and Circuit Level Contest Winners.

Past Civics Contest Winners Share Process and Lessons Learned

In this video, members of the Ninth Circuit Public Information and Community Outreach (PICO) Committee talk with the winners of the 2021 Ninth Circuit Civics Contest about their creative process and what they learned while working on their winning entries.

Download the Contest Flyer and the Contest Rules. There are also Resource Materials related to the contest topic available for students to review (coming soon!).

 

Questions?  For more information, please contact the Ninth Circuit Office of the Circuit Executive at  civicscontest@ce9.uscourts.gov.

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