Reference no: EM13860190

Please brief the case United States V. Kyllo (to be provided). The purpose of a case brief is to write a short summary and analysis of an assigned case for use in classroom discussion. It is a set of notes, presented in a systematic way, in order to sort out the parties, identify the issues, ascertain what was decided, and analyze the reasoning behind decisions made by the courts. There are various methods to brief a case, but the most basic is to use the FIRAC method. (Fact, Issue, Rule of Law, Analysis, Conclusion.)
Facts of the Case

A good brief will include a summary of the pertinent facts and legal points raised in the case. It will show the nature of the litigation, who sued whom, based on what occurrences, and what happened in the lower court/s.

A good brief will include the following elements:

A one-sentence description of the nature of the case, to serve as an introduction.

A statement of the relevant law, with quotation marks or underlining to draw attention to the key words or phrases that are in dispute.

A summary of the complaint (in a civil case) or the indictment (in a criminal case) plus relevant evidence and arguments presented in court to explain who id what to whom and why the case was thought to involve illegal conduct.

A summary of actions taken by the lower courts, for example: defendant convicted; conviction upheld by appellate court; Supreme Court granted certiorari.

Issue (s)

Think of the issue as being the thesis of the judge's opinion. What is the main problem the court is being asked to solve? For example, in a contract case, the issue might have been, was there inferior performance and as a result, was plaintiff entitled to damages? It is highly recommended to word the issue as a question, then the first thing the judge typically does in his analysis is to answer that question.

Rule of Law

Rule of law asks what law/statute will be applied to this case. In the above scenario, the rule of law would be inferior performance. What law is the judge applying to this issue? In another words, explain it to the reader is simple, layman's terms.

Analysis

The analysis is the "meat" of your brief. Within the analysis, you want to show how the judge applied the law to the facts. In other words, if the law the judge is using is the six elements for an enforceable contract, then in your brief you want to demonstrate each element and indicate how it applies (or doesn't apply) to the facts at hand

Conclusion

As you imagine, in your conclusion, you are going to summarize the analysis that you have made above.