U.S. Supreme Court Justices Biography Research Grid Bundle, PDF & Google Drive

Skip the typical introduction lecture as you launch a study of the current United States Supreme Court Justices and, instead, empower students to find their own interesting facts about these judges’ lives with this “V.I.P. of History” print/post-and-teach biography research bundle.

Each single-page worksheet (one per justice – see list below) is a powerful research organizer that’ll help students focus as they begin to learn about the lives and historic impact of these judicial leaders. All worksheets are included as both printable PDF and interactive Google Drive versions.

Please note: This download does NOT include a specific article or links to defined articles. Each worksheet is an organizer tool for students to use as they conduct their own research. In my experience, students take more ownership of the material when they are the ones to research and discover the elements that make a historical figure’s life fascinating. They’ve seen enough of our introductory slideshows; this time, let your kids do the work and discuss/determine what they think is meaningful about each Supreme Court Justice’s life and career.

Each sheet contains the same set of focus questions; the only variation is each Justice’s name and photo.

Here are a few suggested uses for these print-and-go worksheets:

1. Book your school’s computer lab or have students access information on their own devices. Assign students to either work solo or in teams of two as your entire class researches the same Supreme Court Justice. Once the grids are complete, have students share and compare answers in small groups, focusing on the interesting facts they discovered, the important cases the justice argued when they worked as an attorney, and the justice’s meaningful quotes. Then, pull the students into a full-class discussion, having each group present an interesting finding until every team has contributed. No repeats allowed.

2. Assign a worksheet as a traditional homework assignment. Launch the discussion mentioned in #1 at the beginning of the next class period.

3. Use the grids as the beginning assignment to a larger project where students must learn about all of the current members of the U.S. Supreme Court. Later, this research worksheet information could be turned into a compare/contrast essay or a speech presentation, if you wish to expand the assignment. (Biography sheets on all U.S. Supreme Court Justices are included and this package will be updated to include future Justices at no additional charge.)

4. Use as an emergency sub plan.

This product includes one worksheet for each of the following (all are also available as individual items in my shop):

1. Samuel Alito

2. Ketanji Brown Jackson

3. Amy Coney Barrett

4. Neil Gorsuch

5. Elena Kagan

6. Brett Kavanaugh

7. John Roberts

8. Sonia Sotomayor

9. Clarence Thomas

I hope you and your students enjoy this activity! If you need a V.I.P. of History research organizer for any person not currently offered in my shop, please send a message to me through the “Ask a Question” tab and I’ll do my best to quickly make that happen.

If you need only a few of these, each Justice’s organizer is available as an individual item in my shop by clicking any of the names in the list above. If you need them all, you should buy this bundle offered here at a deep discount – 20% off the cost of buying each individually.

Finally, please note that the image on each PDF worksheet is slightly ghosted to save printer/copier ink. I encourage students to doodle/shade in that space as they work.

Thanks for stopping by!