Read the short summaries of the Supreme Court decisions in these actual cases. For each case, decide whether you think the opinion uses originalism or the "living" constitution approach. List the parts of the decision that led you to that conclusion.

1. Roper v. Simmons (2005) Simmons was sentenced to death for a murder committed when he was 17 years old. He argued that the death penalty was a cruel and unusual punishment for a crime committed by an immature and irresponsible juvenile. The Supreme Court agreed, saying that a national consensus had developed among the states that this was cruel and unusual punishment.
2. U.S. v. Jones (2011) Federal agents placed a GPS device on Jones's car in order to track his activities as a drug dealer. Jones argued that this was a search the Fourth Amendment forbids. The Supreme Court agreed, comparing the GPS use to a policeman hiding in a carriage in the 1700s, an activity which Americans who ratified the Constitution would have thought required a warrant.