BLaw 301 Paper Assignment, Spring 2022.
1. Research and write a paper about Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon. The substance of your paper should:
• State the primary legal question that the case addresses; and
• Identify and describe the key arguments on each side, including the rationale and authority underlying each argument; and
• Analyze and evaluate the arguments of each side to reach a reasoned conclusion about what decision you think the Supreme Court should reach on the primary legal question. When you conduct your analysis, make sure you address the arguments for and against your conclusion, including why the arguments supporting your conclusion are superior. Be sure that you do not simply announce your conclusion. Explain and support it, including why you rejected alternative conclusions. You analysis should not only address the specific legal arguments, but also evaluate the ramifications to society generally of adopting one approach to the primary legal question versus the other.
2. Research
• Conduct research about the case. There are a number of websites that have a lot of information about cases pending before the Supreme Court, including Oyez.com and Scotusblog.com.
• Oyez presents a useful summary of the facts of the case and a link to the oral argument that was presented at the Supreme Court. Here is a link to the Oyez case for the page: . On this page you will see a link to the oral argument made at the Supreme Court. Listen to the entire oral argument multiple times as part of your research, taking notes about the arguments being made by the lawyers and the considerations and challenges and arguments raised by the justices.
• Scotusblog is a more comprehensive source of information. Here is a link to the page for this case: It includes links to news articles and to the briefs that the parties and various other interested parties submitted to the Court.
o Here are links to some of the new articles that you should review first to get an overview of the case:
o Here are links to some of the briefs of the parties that you should read as part of your research. These briefs as well as the oral argument are the primary sources you should be relying on to describe the arguments made by each side:
Brief of Petitioner Southwest Airlines:
Brief of Respondent Latrice Saxon:
Reply Brief of Petitioner Southwest Airlines:
o The briefs of the parties cite several Supreme Court decisions. These decisions are typically easily found by searching the internet. If you don’t understand something that is said a brief, you can usually figure it out by reviewing the caselaw cited in the brief for the point you are trying to understand.
o Feel free to review other information about the case on Oyez or Scotusblog or any other reputable source.
3. Format
• When writing your paper, cite your sources each time you use information from them. You are not required to conform to any citation convention. But, make sure you are consistent in your approach to citation and that your citation clearly identifies the source. Place your citations in the body of the paper, rather than in footnotes or endnotes. You are not required to provide a bibliography, but if you do it does not count towards the length of the paper.
• Use quotation marks when you are quoting sources and take care not to plagiarize.
• Your paper should be at least two pages long and not more than two and one half pages long.
• Use Times New Roman 12 point font, double space, 1 inch margins on the sides, top and bottom.
Do not put your name on your paper. Put your student identification number at the top of the first page of your paper. Do not put the course name or date or other header information
