The latest game from Our Courts lets players argue landmark Supreme Court cases.

Washington DC – February 2, 2010

Our Courts’ third interactive civics game, Argument Wars, is now available at Ourcourts.org. The website is the vision of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and the new game lets students debate landmark Supreme Court cases.  The fun and engaging game challenges students to critically examine arguments and exercise sound reasoning in order to win.

“Argument Wars lets students argue some of the most important cases that have ever come before the Supreme Court,” Justice O’Connor said of the launch. “The Our Courts team will release new cases regularly, including several that I helped decide.  Perhaps you can find some of the arguments that convinced me!”

The current cases on Ourcourts.org include Brown v. Board of Education, New Jersey v. T.L.O., and Gideon v. Wainwright.  Miranda v. Arizona and Texas v. Johnson will be added later this month, and other landmark cases will be posted regularly.

In addition to Argument Wars, Ourcourts.org features Do I Have A Right? and Supreme Decision. In Do I Have A Right?, players run a fledgling law firm and must advise incoming clients using the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Supreme Decision casts the player as a U.S. Supreme Court clerk who must help his or her justice decide a challenging case about student rights in school.

Ourcourts.org also features premier lesson plans for middle school teachers, including a new unit on persuasive writing; a message board for students to exchange ideas with Justice O’Connor; and a section showcasing middle school student community projects.  Our Courts’ content is all free of cost and designed to meet or exceed state social studies standards.

About Our Courts
Our Courts (www.ourcourts.org) is the vision of retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to create an interactive program to engage middle school students in civics. Our Courts is a free, web-based curriculum developed by education, law, entertainment, and technology experts across the country. Our Courts is a project of iCivics Inc., and operates in partnership with Arizona State University and Georgetown University.

Argument Wars is designed by Filament Games (www.filamentgames.com).

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CONTACT
Jeff J. Curley
(202) 661-6527
jjc232@law.georgetown.edu