SAMPLE CASE BRIEFFollow this format (except type double spaced). Your brief should be no more thantwo or three double-spaced pages.=============================================================
NEAR V. MINNESOTA, 283 U.S. 697 (1931) [complete name of case, citation, date] decision by Supreme Court of United States [name of court issuing the opinion]
FACTS: J. M. Near published the Saturday Press in Minneapolis. In a series of articles hecharged, in substance, that a Jewish gangster was in control of gambling, bootlegging andracketeering in the city, and that the city government and its law enforcement agencies andofficers were not energetically performing their duties.
A Minnesota statute (referred to as a “gag law” provided for the abatement, as a publicnuisance, of a “malicious, scandalous and defamatory newspaper, magazine or other periodical.”
Near was cited as being in violating of this law and brought into court. An injunction wasissued by a district court that halted all activity of the Saturday Press. Near was prohibited fromever publishing the newspaper again unless he could convince the court that he could operate anewspaper free of objectionable material.
Near appealed this ruling. The Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of thelaw, holding that under its broad police power the state could regulate public nuisances, includingdefamatory and scandalous newspapers. The U. S. Supreme Court granted Near’s petition forcertiorari.
LEGAL QUESTION: Is the action by the state of Minnesota against the newspaper (aprior restraint) a violation of Near’s Fourteenth Amendment rights, which guarantees that “nostate shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law”?