Having addressed the role of trial courts, today we examined the role of appellate courts. Olivia defined the basis of appeals as errors of law and procedural errors and discussed the difference between the two. I then provided instruction on how the procedures in an appellate court differ from those in a trial court. We discussed how most appellate panels are made up of 3 judges(except the US Supreme Court that has nine justices) , and Olivia did a good job identifying the terms majority and dissenting opinion. I then explained the purpose of precedent and the legal principle of stare decisis. In that regard, we examined the US Supreme Court case of Morse v Frederick that examined whether high school students in public schools have free speech rights under the First Amendment. Olivia looked at summaries of 4 cases on this issue and discussed how earlier precedents' rulings in favor of students were overruled in Morse. Based on this review of case law , I emphasized that the meaning of the Constitution and the rights we enjoy thereunder vary depending on who sits on the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court can overrule precedent, even its own. For homework, I assigned reading pgs. 400,402-406 and answering 4 study guide questions.