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The Outsiders Argument Essay

Engage your students in an argument essay assignment that will challenge them to think about S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders in a new way! This final essay for The Outsiders is a great writing task to get students critically thinking, writing, and supporting their claims with strong evidence! and supporting their claim.

This argument essay includes everything you need in order to assign an essay and go through the writing process with your students!

Here’s what you’ll get:

  • an argumentative essay prompt for The Outsiders
  • a brainstorming organizer
  • a five-paragraph essay outline
  • a body paragraph graphic organizer
  • two different grading rubrics (a 100-point rubric and a rubric that allows you to write in your own points values)
  • a handout for writing a strong counterclaim
  • a handout for writing a strong thesis statement
  • a peer editing form
  • two graphic organizers to help students organize their thoughts

You will love how this essay writing resource breaks down the writing process for your students. Your students will love how all of the organizers build on one another to make essay writing a breeze!

Prep is quick and easy… Just print the student pages, gather the materials listed, and you’re ready for a fun and engaging class!

TEACHERS LIKE YOU SAID…

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jason C. says, “My students loved the Outsiders and this material really added valuable information to my unit. Thanks.

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You may also like…

→ The Outsiders Novel Unit with 5-week Pacing Guide

→ Academic Vocabulary Program

→ Essay Writing Unit

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the outsiders debate essay

  • My Preferences
  • My Reading List
  • The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton

  • Literature Notes
  • Book Summary
  • About The Outsiders
  • Character List
  • Summary and Analysis
  • Character Analysis
  • Ponyboy Curtis
  • Darry and Sodapop Curtis
  • Johnny Cade
  • Dallas (Dally) Winston
  • Sherri (Cherry) Valance
  • Bob Sheldon
  • Randy Adderson
  • Character Map
  • S.E. Hinton Biography
  • Critical Essays
  • Themes in The Outsiders
  • The Movie versus the Book
  • Has Society Changed?
  • Full Glossary for The Outsiders
  • Essay Questions
  • Practice Projects
  • Cite this Literature Note

The Outsiders is about two weeks in the life of a 14-year-old boy. The novel tells the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his struggles with right and wrong in a society in which he believes that he is an outsider.

Ponyboy and his two brothers — Darrel (Darry), who is 20, and Sodapop, who is 16 — have recently lost their parents in an automobile accident. Pony and Soda are allowed to stay under Darry's guardianship as long as they all behave themselves. The boys are greasers, a class term that refers to the young men on the East Side, the poor side of town. The greasers' rivals are the Socs, short for Socials, who are the "West-side rich kids."

The story opens with Pony walking home alone from a movie; he is stopped by a gang of Socs who proceed to beat him up. The Socs badly injure and threaten to kill Ponyboy; however, some of his gang happen upon the scene and run the Socs off. This incident sets the tone for the rest of the story, because the event tells the reader that a fight between these two groups needs no provocation.

The next night Pony and two other gang members, Dallas Winston (Dally) and Johnny Cade, go to a drive-in movie. There they meet Sherri (Cherry) Valance and her friend Marcia, who have left their Soc boyfriends at the drive-in because the boys were drinking. Dally leaves after giving the girls a hard time, but another greaser, Two-Bit Mathews, joins Pony and Johnny. The boys offer to walk the girls home after the movie, but along the way, the girls' boyfriends reappear and threaten to fight the greasers. Cherry stops the fight from happening, and the girls leave with their boyfriends.

Pony and Johnny go to a vacant lot to hang out before heading home. They fall asleep, and when Johnny wakes Pony up it's 2 a.m. Pony runs home, because the time is way past his curfew, and Darry is waiting up. Darry is furious with Pony and, in the heat of the moment, he hits him. Pony runs out of the house and returns to the lot to find Johnny. Pony wants to run away, but instead they go to the park to cool off before heading back home.

At the park, Cherry's and Marcia's boyfriends reappear. Pony and Johnny are outnumbered, and the Socs grab Ponyboy and shove him face first into the fountain, holding his head under the water. Realizing that Ponyboy is drowning, Johnny panics, pulls his switchblade, and kills the Soc, Bob.

Ponyboy and Johnny seek out Dally for help in running away to avoid being arrested for Bob's murder. He gives them $50 and directions to a hideout outside of town. The boys hop a freight train and find the hideout where they are to wait until Dally comes for them. Hiding in an abandoned, rural church, they feel like real outsiders, with their greased, long hair and general hoody appearance. They both cut their hair, and Pony colors his for a disguise. They pass the time in the church playing cards and reading aloud from Gone with the Wind .

Dally shows up after a week, and takes them to the Dairy Queen in Windrixville. Thanks to Dally, the police think that the boys are headed for Texas. Dally also brings them the news that Cherry Valance is now being a spy for the greasers, and helping them out against the Socs. She has also testified that Bob was drunk the night of his death and that she was sure that the killing had been in self-defense.

Johnny decides that he has a chance now, and announces that he wants to turn himself in. They head back to the church and discover that it is on fire. A school group is there, apparently on some kind of outing, and little kids are trapped inside. Without thinking, Pony and Johnny race inside and rescue the kids. As they are handing the kids outside to Dally, the burning roof collapses. Pony barely escapes, but a piece of timber falls on Johnny, burning him badly and breaking his back. The boys, now viewed as heroes, are taken via ambulance back to town, where Pony reunites with his brothers.

Johnny dies of his injuries. Dally is overcome with grief, and he robs a grocery store. He flees the police and calls the gang from a telephone booth, asking them to pick him up in the vacant lot and take him to a hiding place. The police chase Dally to the lot, and as the gang watches, Dally pulls a "black object" from his waistband and the officers shoot him.

The senselessness of all the violent events traumatizes Pony, but he deals with his grief and frustration by writing this book for all of the "Dallys" in the world.

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It is a story that can shed light on the issues we face in our own lives, regardless of who we are

the outsiders debate essay

By: Amneet Uppal

The Outsiders is a story that has touched me in so many ways. S.E. Hinton created a masterpiece of a novel in 1967 at the tender age of 18. Just recently, Hinton celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of her book with a tour, which I was lucky enough to attend. Seeing her in person reminded me of why I fell in love with this novel when I was 14 years old. Hinton’s timeless classic is a coming-of-age story that unravels the good and the bad of society. The Outsiders has something for every reader; there are star-crossed lovers, misunderstood teenage boys, thrilling fighting scenes, and suspense creeping up through every page.

     Based on Hinton’s own childhood, the story is about two very different high school gangs, the Socs and the Greasers. The Greasers are considered to be the delinquent troublemakers of the social pecking order. The Socs (short for Socials) on the other hand are considered to be the elites of society. Protagonist Ponyboy is a flawed character: he is a moody, troubled kid who acts recklessly when faced with tough choices. Ponyboy grows tremendously throughout the novel as he witnesses death and the harsh reality of living life as a Greaser.

     Coming from the wrong side of town myself and having been exposed to drugs, violence, and crime at a young age, I have always identified with Ponyboy. The reason why this novel continues to be a success, even after 50 years of publication, is because the message of the story still holds value to this day: it is never too late to change your circumstances.

     If you haven’t read this novel already, I highly suggest adding this book to your summer reading bucket list. The short novel will take you on a journey that will keep you hungry for more. This novel will also take you on a roller coaster ride of emotions: anger, heartbreak, frustration, and at the very end, hope . . . Hope that happy endings do exist, if you want them to.

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the outsiders debate essay

Learning Experience/Unit

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The Outsiders Debate Project by NYSATL

English Language Arts (2005), English Language Arts (NYS P-12 Common Core)

Grade Levels

Intermediate, 8th Grade

How Students Were Involved In Developing Assessment Criteria

As a class, we compared their list to The Outsiders Debate Project Rubric and found the two were essentially compatible. We discussed the different rubric gradations. Students were asked to refer to their rubrics before beginning a debate project section so they might be aware of what the project required as well as the quality of work required. Also, they were told to refer to the rubric as needed while they were doing a project section and then again after the section was completed to make sure their work was consistent with what the rubric required.

Students also used previous work to help them maintain an awareness of their progress and reflect on their work. Prior to The Outsiders Debate Project, students were engaged in a series of activities used to assess their understanding of The Outsiders as they read the book. These activities included:

  • free writing
  • The Outsiders Debate Project Rubric
  • General Writing Rubric

Learning Context/ Introduction

Where this Experience Fits Within the Curriculum

  • work with a partner.
  • The Outsiders Debate Project
  • How This Learning Experience Reflects Current Scho
  • How This Learning Experience Incorporates Technolo

Student Work

  • Student Work 1
  • Student Work 2
  • Student Information Sheet
  • Project Schedule

Instructional/Environmental Modifications

My classes are made up of students with a wide range of academic and social abilities. All were native speakers, though. I had no bilingual students. One way to accommodate this range of abilities was to have all pre-debate activities supported using cooperative groups. All students had previously been placed in cooperative base groups, so it was not unusual for students to work together here. Discussions and activities were almost always preceded by groups meeting to discuss questions, possible answers, and strategies for successfully completing the activity. During the times groups met, I monitored each group’s activities. Special attention was paid to students with disabilities or having special needs. In an inclusion class I teach with a Special Education teacher, we talked over potential problems any student might have, especially the students with disabilities, and developed strategies to provide support and assistance for each. This process was repeated with a school reading specialist for another one of my classes heavily populated with students designated as requiring Academic Intervention Services. Additionally, myself, the Special Education Teacher, and the Reading Specialist : reviewed all students IEPs or 504 plans so that we were aware of any special learning conditions or programs we might be unaware of or not implementing. had students work with our Reading Specialist during either their lunch periods or resource room time. pulled students who were having difficulties from their lunch periods so we might work with them. To compliment and reinforce readings from the book, I showed scenes from the movie, "The Outsiders". For those who had difficulty reading, additional time and support was given as needed. I coordinated reading assignments with the Resource Room teacher. To accommodate students with particularly severe reading difficulties, the Resource Room teacher read and recorded the book The Outsiders on tape for these or other students in need to listen to.

Planning, Implementation, and Assessment Time The initial planning was the most time consuming part of The Outsiders’ Debate Project. Setting up and typing the debate positions, the accompanying rubrics, and the student work schedule took a number of hours to complete. Prior to implementing the debate project, the book had to be read. Although The Outsiders is not a long book, this took about two weeks. Daily homework assignments of reading followed up by assessment activities, many of them alternative, in class each day were necessary to make sure students had a good understanding of the book before they could debate. Actual implementation of the debate project required about six days. My classes are 41 minutes long. The general plan for the activity included collaboration, research, writing, debating, assessment, and reflection. The suggested schedule for implementation of the debate project is available in the Resources section. The time necessary for assessment of the debate project was spread throughout the project. Pre-debate activities to assess student understanding as they were reading the book were done daily through a series of activities. The time frame for the actual debate project was as follows: Costumes: Costumes were evaluated by me on the day of the debate. As students made their final debate preparations, I looked at each costume and wrote an assessment score on The Outsiders Debate Project Rubric. Debate: Student debate performance was monitored as they debated. After the debate, I determined a debate assessment score for each. Students also used the rubric to assess their own debate performance. Position Paper, Note Taking, & Personal Reflection:   Since these were all written pieces, they took longer to assess. The Position Paper was weighted more heavily than the notes or the personal reflection and more attention was paid to it. Assessment of all written pieces for 130 students took about 5 hours total time.

Edgar Daniels, National Board Certified Teacher

I originally used this debate format with an activity designed by David and Roger Johnson (University of Minnesota) to illustrate the use of scientific inquiry for an artifact I was creating for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The debate topic for that artifact dealt with whether or not the timber wolf of Minnesota should be preserved or selectively hunted. The Johnsons provided research materials and a format that structured academic controversy so that students would be able, among other things, to see a number of different perspectives for one topic. After becoming familiar with the NYS Learning Standards, it occurred to me how compatible such an activity using the book The Outsiders might be with ELA Standards 1,3,& 4 and a number of their performance indicators. Since The Outsiders Debate Project provides a natural context for reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and the book provides a basic, high interest set of conflicts, I thought it would be a nice fit. A look back to the Learning Context of this Learning Experience shows how well the student actions specified would match what this debate called for. Another way to consider this is to refer to the Standards verbs found in the performance indicators I selected. For example verbs such as select, organize, categorize, distinguish, and develop appear in a number of the performance indicators relative to student manipulation of information. All of these verbs were enacted by students in the course of the debate project. Additionally, verbs including listen, understand, present, develop , and express that appear in other performance indicators relative to speaking and listening, are also all enacted by students in the debate project. Finally, Standards’ verbs such as produce, pre-write, draft, revise, proofread, and evaluate , that appear in other performance indicators relative to producing a written product, are also all enacted by students in this debate project. What I Learned From Implementing This Lesson I found this lesson to be quite instructive. One important understanding is that an activity such as The Outsiders Debate Project can incorporate a variety of NYS Learning Standards and a variety of performance indicators. This is good news for the planning and implementation of future assignments. Another understanding is how important providing a variety of learning contexts is for students. In this lesson, the different learning contexts provided allowed me to view my students from more than one perspective. In essence, I got to see them in a different light. Students worked individually and cooperatively with others. The cooperative context allowed me to see students interacting in ways impossible in a traditional classroom setting. This interaction was revealing as students who were reluctant to speak in a whole class setting often spoke volumes to their partners. Equally instructive was the quality of the interaction. Having students work as debate pairs allowed me to monitor student discussion very effectively. I was able to listen in as students presented their ideas to their partners. I was quite surprised, in a positive way mostly, about the depth of understanding students had of the book. I was happy to be able to assess these understandings in a much more realistic way than had they been asked to show them on a test or some other similar instrument. The level of student understanding was even more evident when the actual debate began. I was often surprised and even amazed at times, by the student who often took the lead in the debate. More than a few times, I saw students who were almost "invisible" in class make positive, assertive, and effective arguments when it was their turn to speak. Interestingly, I was sometimes surprised the other way. It wasn’t often the case, but some students who always volunteer answers in class were not particularly effective in the debate. One of the things that I seem to "relearn" each time I use this Learning Experience with my classes is how concerned the students are with what their costumes should look like for the day of the debate. Girls and boys, alike, have many questions about what they should wear. The "Greaser" boys especially, and most of the girls regardless of debate side, worry about their hair. The boys wonder how much "grease" they should put in their hair and the girls wonder if they should use hair spray. Since most of the girls balk at wearing a dress or a skirt, I assure them that slacks are fine. I spend at least a half period before the debate talking about this, showing pictures, and brief video clips about life during the early 1960’s, the time period of the novel. I also remind them of what the greasers and socials look like as depicted in the movie "The Outsiders." Additionally, I emphasize that no one need go out and buy anything new for their costume. It’s never happened, but I worry about students telling their parents they must have a new leather coat, or the equivalent, for the debate. Student Comments "I learned what a debate was all about. I never really argued with another person about topics found in a book. I learned how to defend myself verbally and how to campaign with another person. The most valuable thing I learned is that everyone has their own way of thinking." "I learned that I work well with others. My most valuable lesson was don’t judge a book by its cover." "I learned so much more from the debate than just a test. It gave me a different view of the book. It gave me a look from the Social side and the Greaser side. It taught me to organize my work. I realized that note taking is easier than I thought it was. The Position paper taught me to take notes and organize them into an essay with an opening and concluding paragraph. The debate taught me how to argue my side of the story and listen to the other side. It taught me how to take notes while the other side is speaking so I can counter example them. It taught me to work with others to achieve a certain goal. That goal was to win the debate and have more evidence than the other person. A test would not teach me any of those things I talked about. All a test would do is to see if you read and understood the book. The Project did that and much more."

Related Academic Standards

New york state.

W.8.1.a  Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.

W.8.1.b  Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.

W.8.1.c  Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

W.8.1.d  Establish and maintain a formal style.

W.8.1.e  Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented.

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Trump opts against Supreme Court appeal on civil immunity claim over Jan. 6 lawsuits

Then-President Donald Trump

WASHINGTON — Lawsuits seeking to hold Donald Trump personally accountable for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol can move forward after the former president chose not to take his broad immunity claim to the Supreme Court.

Trump had a Thursday deadline to file a petition at the Supreme Court contesting an appeals court decision from December that rejected his immunity arguments, but he did not do so.

The appeals court made it clear that Trump could still claim immunity later in the proceedings in three cases brought by Capitol Police officers and members of Congress.

"President Trump will continue to fight for presidential immunity all across the spectrum," said Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman.

The civil lawsuits against Trump are separate from the criminal case against him that also arose from Jan. 6. On Monday, Trump asked the justices to put that case on hold on immunity grounds.

Trump's lawyers argued that any actions he took on Jan. 6 fall under the scope of his responsibilities as president, thereby granting him immunity from civil liability. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected that argument, ruling that Trump was acting in his role as a political candidate running for office, not as president.

But the court added that when the cases move forward in district court, Trump "must be afforded the opportunity to develop his own facts on the immunity question" in order to show he was acting in his official capacity. He then could again seek to have the lawsuits dismissed, the court said.

“We look forward to moving on with proving our claims and getting justice for our Capitol Police officer clients who were injured defending our democracy from Defendant Trump,” said Kristy Parker, a lawyer for plaintiffs in one of the cases.

The lead plaintiff in the civil immunity case is James Blassingame, a Capitol Police officer who was injured in the Jan. 6 riot. Fellow plaintiffs in several lawsuits that were consolidated on appeal include lawmakers who were at the Capitol that day.

The legal arguments being made by Trump are similar to those he is making in his criminal case as he seeks to prevent a trial from taking place before the November election.

In rejecting Trump's immunity claim in the criminal case, a different panel of judges in the same appeals court did not directly address whether Trump's actions were official acts. The court instead assumed that they likely were official acts and found that, even then, Trump could not claim immunity.

the outsiders debate essay

Lawrence Hurley covers the Supreme Court for NBC News.

  • International

Hearings on Trump's criminal cases in New York and Georgia

By Kara Scannell , Lauren del Valle , Jeremy Herb , Zachary Cohen , Jason Morris, Nick Valencia , Kristina Sgueglia, Dan Berman , Tori B. Powell and Matt Meyer , CNN

Here are key takeaways from Fani Willis' stunning testimony

From CNN's Marshall Cohen, Devan Cole, Holmes Lybrand and Katelyn Polantz

The Georgia election subversion case against  Donald Trump and 14 of his allies took a stunning turn Thursday when two top prosecutors testified under oath about their romantic relationship at a hearing triggered by allegations of self-dealing that have the potential to derail the entire effort.

The all-day hearing escalated steadily throughout the day, culminating with Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis taking the witness stand for a combative brawl with defense attorneys that drew several rebukes from the judge.

These are key takeaways:

  • Willis' defiant afternoon: Things quickly went off the rails. Willis didn’t act much like a traditional witness on the stand and was more like a prosecutor, arguing with the defense attorneys, raising objections, making legal arguments and even having exchanges with Judge Scott McAfee . She even raised her voice at one point. This led to a few rebukes from McAfee. Willis repeatedly accused some of the defense attorneys of peddling lies – before and after the judge’s admonishment.
  • Willis says she's not on trial: Willis seized several opportunities to defend herself. “You think I’m on trial,” Willis said, in her sharpest pushback of the day. “These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020,” she added, pointing toward the table of attorneys representing defendants in the criminal case. “I’m not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial.” She later slammed the defense attorneys, calling them “confused” and “intrusive.”
  • When did the relationship start? On the stand, prosecutor Nathan Wade stuck to his earlier claim – in a sworn affidavit submitted to the court – that his romantic relationship with Willis began in early 2022 and that they split travel and vacation expenses. But Robin Bryant-Yeartie, a former friend of Willis and Fulton County employee, contradicted that claim , testifying that she had “no doubt” that the Willis-Wade affair began in late 2019. Notably, that would be before Willis hired Wade to lead the Trump probe in late 2021.
  • Wade and Willis describe using cash for reimbursements: Wade and Willis have offered a simple explanation for why there’s essentially no paper trail to back up his claims they split expenses: Willis used cash .
  • When did the relationship end? There was also a dispute over when the relationship ended, and whether it had any impact on the decision to seek the massive RICO indictment against Trump and others last August. Both said the relationship ended in summer 2023. Willis implied that the physical component ended earlier in the summer, but that the two had a “tough conversation” that fully ended things afterward.
  • Huge distraction from Trump's charges: Nothing that happened Thursday undercut the factual allegations against Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, or the other GOP allies who are accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election. But the hearing shifted the conversation away from those allegation and away from Trump’s legal woes for now.

Trump reacts to Willis' testimony in Georgia

From CNN's Kate Sullivan

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday reacted to c and her lead prosecutor on the 2020 election case, Nathan Wade.

“FANI NEVER PAID CASH. SHE GOT FREE TRIPS AND OTHER THINGS FROM HER LOVER, WITH THE EXORBITANT AMOUNTS OF MONEY SHE AUTHORIZED TO BE PAID TO HIM. A GIANT SCAM. WITCH HUNT!!!”  Trump posted  on Truth Social. 

Wade and Willis pushed back against allegations from the defense that Willis was essentially getting kickbacks from Wade in the form of vacations. They said they split expenses and that Willis reimbursed Wade in cash for certain things.

Georgia judge says no ruling will be issued tomorrow in case over whether to dismiss Willis

From CNN’s Holmes Lybrand

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee looks on during a hearing at the Fulton County Courthouse on Thursday, February 15, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee said he would not issue any rulings Friday after the evidentiary hearing on efforts to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election subversion case. 

“I’m not ruling on any of this tomorrow,” McAfee said in closing the hearing Thursday. “This is something that’s going to be taken under advisement on all aspects.”  

McAfee also raised the possibility of scheduling final arguments from the parties at a later date. 

“My goal, my hope is perhaps we can just close the evidence tomorrow, and we can take it from there,” McAfee said.

Willis woke up "ready to testify," bishop who prayed with her before court says

From CNN's Nick Valencia and Devon Sayers

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis woke up Thursday morning "ready to testify," according to the African Methodist Episcopal bishop who says he prayed with her before today’s hearing.

Bishop Reginald Jackson told CNN he met with Willis earlier this morning before court began to "offer her words of encouragement," and they prayed together.

"She seemed comfortable. She seemed eager to address," Jackson said.  "I had the feeling this morning that she was ready for this. It's been going on for over a month, these efforts to destroy her reputation,” he added. “She wanted to meet it head on.” 

When the bishop spoke to Willis this morning before court, he said he told Willis "to keep praying and that the people have her back. I really believe they do."

Hearing ends for the day and Willis will continue testimony Friday 

From CNN's Holmes Lybrand and Dan Berman

The first day of an evidentiary hearing over whether to dismiss Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election subversion case has concluded after Willis and her top prosecutor, Nathan Wade, testified over their relationships and payments they made during vacations together.

The district attorney's testimony will continue Friday at 9 a.m. ET, with Willis starting with under cross examination from District Attorney lawyer Anna Cross.

Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who is leading the removal effort, said she plans to call two more witnesses after that.  

Cross also said she had three to four witnesses to call tomorrow, which she estimated would take four to five hours.

Willis: "I'm not on trial, no matter how hard you try to put me on trial"

From CNN's Devan Cole

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case on Thursday in Atlanta.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pushed back forcefully on Thursday as she engaged in a tense back and forth with a defense attorney seeking to disqualify her from the 2020 election interference case she’s brought against Donald Trump and others.

“You've been intrusive into people's personal lives. You're confused,” she told Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for defendant Mike Roman.

“You think I'm on trial. These people are on trial for trying to steal an election in 2020,” she added, pointing toward the table of attorneys representing defendants in the criminal case.

Willis says Wade made sexist remarks during relationship

From CNN’s Devan Cole and Marshall Cohen

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a hearing on the Georgia election interference case on Thursday in Atlanta.

In an extraordinary moment in court Thursday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testified about sexist behavior from Nathan Wade, the top prosecutor on the election interference case with whom she once had a romantic relationship.

“It's interesting that we're here about this money. Mr. Wade is used to women that, as he told me one time: 'The only thing a woman can do for him is make him a sandwich,'” she testified as she faced tough questioning from defense attorney Steve Sadow, who represents Donald Trump, about whether their romantic relationship ended last summer because of the forthcoming indictment against the former president and his allies. 

“We would have brutal arguments about the fact that I am your equal," she continued. "I don't need anything from a man — a man is not a plan. A man is a companion. And so there was tension always in our relationship, which is why I would give him his money back. I don't need anybody to foot my bills. The only man who's ever foot my bills completely is my daddy.” 

The defense attorneys have zeroed in on the timing of when the Willis-Wade relationship ended because it's critical to their self-dealing allegations against Willis.

In court filings, defendant Mike Roman's team argued that Willis would be incentivized to bring an indictment because it would prolong the case, and keep the money flowing to Wade. And, according to their theory, back to her as well, through vacations and other gifts.

Willis said on the stand that their break-up had “absolutely nothing” to do with the indictment.

Fulton County judge admonishes parties to remain professional

Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee looks on during a hearing in the case of the State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump at the Fulton County Courthouse on February 15, in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee admonished parties in court on Thursday after heated exchanges between District Attorney Fani Willis and the defense attorney trying to get her removed from the Georgia election subversion case. 

“We all know what professionalism looks like,” McAfee said. “We won’t talk over each other. And from there, we’ll get through this.”

The judge took a brief break during Willis’ testimony after she raised her voice in court, holding up several motions filed by defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant and declaring: “It is a lie.” 

Merchant was asking if the top prosecutor she hired to investigate Trump had ever visited Willis “at the place you lay your head?”

“So let’s be clear because you’ve lied in this,” Willis said, pointing to copies she held of the filings. Willis, continuing to point at the copies, added, “right here, I think you lied right here.”

Willis details trips she took with top prosecutor in Trump case

District Attorney Fani Willis detailed vacations and trips she took with prosecutor Nathan Wade, who she hired to investigate Donald Trump and others for election interference in Georgia, saying she would pay cash for everything.

“When I travel I always pay cash,” Willis said of the trips with Wade, saying that she paid Wade back for certain travel and excursions during the trips.

Willis has been accused of financially benefitting from hiring Wade, who defense attorneys say paid for vacations for the two. The vacations, according to Willis, included trips to Aruba, the Bahamas Belize as well as Napa Valley where they attended wine tastings.

“He likes wine, I don’t really like wine to be honest with you,” Willis said. “I like Grey Goose.” 

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Guest Essay

A Slap Shot Against Climate Denial

A photo illustration of a gavel holding up the Earth.

By Michael E. Mann and Peter J. Fontaine

Dr. Mann is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of “Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons From Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis.” Mr. Fontaine is an environmental lawyer who served as co-counsel for Dr. Mann in the defamation case detailed in this essay.

The climate is warming. Polar ice is melting, glaciers are receding, the chemistry of the ocean is becoming dangerously acidic, sea levels are rising. All of this and more are consequences of the greenhouse gases we continue to emit into the atmosphere, where they trap and radiate heat that would otherwise escape into space.

Those are facts, not conjectures. Yet the scientists researching the fallout from that inconvenient fact, established more than 100 years ago, continue to face attacks that threaten their research, reputations and livelihoods.

One of us, Michael Mann, is just such a scientist. Twelve years ago, he found himself accused of research fraud for his work documenting the rapid rise of Earth’s temperature since the early 20th century.

An adjunct scholar at the time at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which has said it “questions global warming alarmism,” compared Dr. Mann on a blog hosted by the institute to a convicted sex offender. “Instead of molesting children,” the post read, “he has molested and tortured data in the service of politicized science.” Then a conservative writer republished parts of that post on a blog hosted by National Review and added that Dr. Mann was “behind the fraudulent climate-change ‘hockey stick’ graph.”

Last week, after our decade-long journey through the court system, a jury in Washington, D.C., found that both writers were liable for defamation . We hope this sends a broader message that defamatory attacks on scientists go beyond the bounds of protected speech and have consequences. The jury awarded $1 in compensatory damages from each defendant, and punitive damages of $1,000 against one defendant and $1 million against the other.

However, we lament the time lost to this battle. This case is part of a larger culture war in which research is distorted and the truth about the climate threat is dissembled.

The assault on climate science has grown broader and more sophisticated. Rachael Lyle-Thompson, a lawyer for the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, which has supported Dr. Mann in the past, warned recently that sweeping and “invasive open records requests” to harass and intimidate and “other misuse of the legal system” continue to “threaten climate scientists’ ability to freely conduct research and openly share it with the public.”

And the attacks have expanded to other frontiers of science. Witness the ongoing assault on public health experts such as the doctors Anthony Fauci and Peter Hotez, who have sought to address the Covid-19 pandemic. Or the false claims about adverse health effects from wind turbines. Or efforts by the Trump administration to limit the scientific and medical research that the government can use to determine public health regulations. Or rollbacks of environmental regulations. The list, unfortunately, goes on.

It is in the context of this broader war on science that our recent trial victory may have wider implications. It has drawn a line in the sand. Scientists now know that they can respond to attacks by suing for defamation.

A scientist defamed can publish a thousand peer-reviewed articles in the effort to clear his or her name, but when scientists and lawyers join forces, disinformation can more readily be defeated. What’s disheartening is that it took more than a decade and countless hours by a team of lawyers to win a jury verdict in our case when the verdict on human-caused global warming was rendered decades ago.

Nearly 60 years ago, in fact, scientists warned President Lyndon Johnson that the continued combustion of fossil fuels would cause irreversible warming of the Earth’s atmosphere, with consequences we are seeing today. Concentrations of carbon dioxide then were at 320 parts per million in the atmosphere, compared to preindustrial levels of approximately 280 p.p.m.

Three decades later, with atmospheric carbon dioxide at 370 p.p.m., Dr. Mann, then a young postdoc, and two veteran climatologists, Raymond Bradley and Malcolm Hughes, published the first version of a graph that resembled an upturned hockey stick.

The handle of the stick charted the relatively constant temperatures of preindustrial times, while the upturned blade showed a rapid warming that began with the Industrial Revolution. To assemble the graph, they used natural temperature archives such as tree rings, corals and sediment and ice cores to estimate global temperatures back in time. The hockey stick graph soon became what a 2013 article in The Atlantic called “ the most controversial chart in science.”

“Climate deniers threw everything they had at the hockey stick,” the author, Chris Mooney, now a climate reporter at The Washington Post, wrote. They failed to disprove it — but “they certainly sowed plenty of doubt in the mind of the public,” he noted.

Which, of course, was the point. And that brings us back to our case.

In 2012, with atmospheric carbon dioxide having risen to nearly 400 p.p.m., the two blog posts attacking the hockey stick graph appeared, comparing Dr. Mann, then a professor at Penn State, to Jerry Sandusky, an assistant football coach at Penn State who had been convicted of abusing young boys.

As a jury has now decided, those posts were defamatory and were published with actual malice — meaning the defendants either knew the allegations were false or showed reckless disregard for the truth, a difficult hurdle for plaintiffs considered public figures to clear. But we did. And the hockey stick graph in the meantime has become firmly ensconced in the wall of evidence that burning fossil fuels is warming the planet at a pace and scale unseen.

Yet the machinery of disinformation, waged in part by the fossil fuel industry, continues to seed doubt, divert attention and delay action. Indeed, one of the defendants said in court that he stood by “every word I wrote about Michael Mann” and “his fraudulent hockey stick.” Both defendants are likely to appeal.

As of Tuesday, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide had hit 424.20 p.p.m., levels not seen for at least three million years , when Earth was warmer and the seas were much higher.

Clean energy solutions are readily available. But meaningful action in the United States, one of the world’s biggest carbon emitters, is in jeopardy of being blocked or slowed if a significant portion of the electorate does not accept the basic scientific facts and understand their implications. Voters should keep this in mind when they go to the polls later this year. With climate science still under attack and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increasing, we’re running out of time.

Michael E. Mann is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of “ Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons From Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis. ” Peter J. Fontaine is chair of the environmental law practice at the law firm Cozen O’Connor and served as co-counsel for Dr. Mann in the defamation lawsuit detailed in this essay.

Source images by Roberto Machado Noa and Oleksii Polishchuk/Getty Images

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , X and Threads .

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COMMENTS

  1. The Outsiders: Mini Essays

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    The book, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, for each student. The Outsiders' Debate Project Student Information Sheet (see below) Project Schedule(see below) The Outsiders' Debate Project Rubric (see Assessment section) General Writing Rubric (see Assessment section) The video, "The Outsiders". TV/VCR set up in the classroom.

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    1. What draws Cherry to the greasers? Why is she with Bob? Why does she say she could fall in love with Dally? 2. Discuss the role of the novel's physical setting. How does the division between the East Side and the West Side represent the conflict within the novel itself? 3. Compare and contrast the Curtis brothers, Darry, Sodapop, and Ponyboy.

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  19. The Outsiders Debate Essay

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  25. Opinion

    Mr. Silver writes the newsletter Silver Bulletin. We look to be headed for what could be the most unpopular sequel since "Home Alone 3": Biden versus Trump 2.0. One question goes to the heart ...

  26. The Outsiders: Themes

    The Outsiders tells the story of two groups of teenagers whose bitter rivalry stems from socioeconomic differences. However, Hinton suggests, these differences in social class do not necessarily make natural enemies of the two groups, and the greasers and Socs share some things in common. Cherry Valance, a Soc, and Ponyboy Curtis, a greaser ...

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  28. Opinion

    Dr. Mann is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of "Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons From Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis." Mr. Fontaine is an ...

  29. The Outsiders: Study Guide

    The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, published in 1967, is a coming-of-age novel set in the 1960s in Tulsa, Oklahoma.Hinton began writing The Outsiders at the age of fifteen, inspired by her frustration with the social divisions in her high school and the lack of realistic fiction for high school readers.. The story is narrated by Ponyboy Curtis, a teenager from the wrong side of the tracks, who ...