Confirm favorite deletion?
Constitutional Law Keyed to Stone
Stenberg v. Carhart
Only StudyBuddy Pro offers the complete Case Brief Anatomy*
Access the most important case brief elements for optimal case understanding.
*Case Brief Anatomy includes: Brief Prologue, Complete Case Brief, Brief Epilogue
- The Brief Prologue provides necessary case brief introductory information and includes:
- Topic: Identifies the topic of law and where this case fits within your course outline.
- Parties: Identifies the cast of characters involved in the case.
- Procedural Posture & History: Shares the case history with how lower courts have ruled on the matter.
- Case Key Terms, Acts, Doctrines, etc.: A case specific Legal Term Dictionary.
- Case Doctrines, Acts, Statutes, Amendments and Treatises: Identifies and Defines Legal Authority used in this case.
- The Case Brief is the complete case summarized and authored in the traditional Law School I.R.A.C. format. The Pro case brief includes:
- Brief Facts: A Synopsis of the Facts of the case.
- Rule of Law: Identifies the Legal Principle the Court used in deciding the case.
- Facts: What are the factual circumstances that gave rise to the civil or criminal case? What is the relationship of the Parties that are involved in the case. Review the Facts of this case here:
A Nebraska law provided that no partial birth abortion shall be performed in the state, unless such procedure is necessary to save the life of the mother. The statute defined a partial birth abortion as a procedure in which a person “partially delivers vaginally a living unborn child before killing the unborn child and completing the delivery.” It further defines the procedure as intentionally delivering into the vagina a living unborn child, or a substantial portion thereof, for the purpose of performing a procedure that will result in the death of the unborn child. There were two common ways of performing a partial birth abortion: (1) the Dilation and Evacuation Method (D&E), which entails terminating the life of the fetus while the fetus remains in the body; and (2) the Dilation and Extraction Method (D&X), requiring the doctor to initiate a woman’s natural delivery process and to terminate the fetus’ life after its arms and legs have been brought outside of a woman’s body. The D&E is regarded, generally, as the safer method. The State asserted that its intention was to ban just the D&X. The constitutionality of the Nebraska law was brought into question.
- Issue(s): Lists the Questions of Law that are raised by the Facts of the case.
- Holding: Shares the Court's answer to the legal questions raised in the issue.
- Concurring / Dissenting Opinions: Includes valuable concurring or dissenting opinions and their key points.
- Reasoning and Analysis: Identifies the chain of argument(s) which led the judges to rule as they did.
- The Brief Prologue closes the case brief with important forward-looking discussion and includes:
- Policy: Identifies the Policy if any that has been established by the case.
- Court Direction: Shares where the Court went from here for this case.