Missouri v. Seibert, 542 U.S. 600 (2004), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that struck down the police practice of first obtaining an inadmissible confession without giving Miranda warnings, then issuing the warnings, and then obtaining a second confession.

Mini-briefs should be three to four pages long

. 1. The Citation provides all reference numbers for a case, including defendant and plaintiff names.

2. The Introduction describes the nature of the legal dispute. The Supreme Court only considers constitutional issues. Normally, I pick cases which involve search and seizure (4th Amendment), interrogation /Miranda (5th Amendment) or due process (4th and 14th Amendments). If there are earlier cases that influenced the decision (or precedents) this is where they are identified.

3. The Summary presents important facts of the case. The Summary section should be no more than one (1) page long. Some students fail to identify the constitutional issues being decided and provide long, overly detailed summaries.

4. The Majority Opinion summarizes the majority (ruling) decision. Well-written summaries require students to understand and distill complex issues. The highest grades will be given to mini-briefs that convey comprehension of the majority decision.

5. The Dissenting Opinion argues against the Majority Opinion. Sometimes there is not a Dissenting Opinion. However, most of the time, Dissenting Opinions give valuable insight into the legal arguments. This is where you can demonstrate your understanding of the case and improve your grade.