Civil Liberties Court Cases

*New York Times v Sullivan (1964)

Established the actual malice standard, which has to be met before press reports about public officials or public figures can be considered to be defamation and libel; and hence allowed free reporting of the civil rights campaigns in the southern United States.

United States v Miller (1939)

"In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a 'shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length' at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument."

McConnell v Federal Election Commission (2003)

A case in which the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of most of the McCain-Feingold Act.

*Schenck v United States (1919)

A defendant did not have a First Amendment right to express freedom of speech against the draft during World War I.

*Tinker v Des Moines (1969)

Defined the constitutional rights of students in U.S. public schools. John Tinker and his friends publicly opposed the Vietnam War through wearing black armbands, and were suspended for doing so.

*Engle v Vitale (1962)

Determined that it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and encourage its recitation in public schools.

Escobedo v Illinois (1964)

Held that criminal suspects have a right to counsel during police interrogations under the Sixth Amendment. The case was decided a year after the court held in Gideon v. Wainwright, (1963) that indigent criminal defendants had a right to be provided counsel at trial.

*Gideon v Wainright (1964)

In the case, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state courts are required under the Fourteenth Amendment to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who are unable to afford to pay their own attorneys, extending the identical requirement made on the federal government under the Sixth Amendment.

*Texas v Johnson (1988)

Invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the American flag enforced in 48 of the 50 states. The court said, "Recognizing that the right to differ is the centerpiece of our First Amendment freedoms, a government cannot mandate by fiat a feeling of unity in its citizens. Therefore that very same government cannot carve out a symbol of unity and prescribe a set of approved messages to be associated with that symbol . . ." The court also concluded that the flag burning in this case did not cause or threaten to cause a breach of the peace.

*Gregg v Georgia (1976)

Reaffirmed the United States Supreme Court's acceptance of the use of the death penalty in the United States, upholding, in particular, the death sentence imposed on Troy Leon Gregg.

*Gonzales v Oregon (2006)

Ruled that the United States Attorney General could not enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act against physicians who prescribed drugs, in compliance with Oregon state law, for the assisted suicide of the terminally ill.

Printz v United States (1997)

Ruled that the interim provisions of the Brady Bill are unconstitutional.

Lee v Weisman (1992)

Ruling extended the prohibition of school prayer to graduation ceremonies and refused to accept the idea that a student would not be harmed by standing during the prayer without sharing the message contained in the prayer.

United States v Leon (1984)

Supreme Court ruled that it was O.K. if police acted in "good faith", which presented the good faith clause. The case was a search and seizure case in which the Supreme Court of the United States created the "good faith" exception to the exclusionary rule.

*Chaplinsky v New Hampshire (1942)

The Court articulated the fighting words doctrine, a limitation of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech. Chaplinksy claimed that his First Amendment had been breached when he was fined for verbally attacking the town marshal.

Miranda v Arizona (1966)

The Court held that both inculpatory and exculpatory statements made in response to interrogation by a defendant in police custody will be admissible at trial only if the prosecution can show that the defendant was informed of the right to consult with an attorney before and during questioning and of the right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police, and that the defendant not only understood these rights, but voluntarily waived them. "Miranda Rights".

New York v Quarles (1984)

The Court held that there is a "public safety" exception to the requirement that officers issue Miranda warnings to suspects. Since the police officer's request for the location of the gun was prompted by an immediate interest in assuring that it did not injure an innocent bystander or fall into the hands of a potential accomplice to Quarles, his failure to read the Miranda warning did not violate the Constitution.

*Roe v Wade (1972)

The Court ruled 7-2 that a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting women's health.

Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992)

The Court's plurality opinion upheld the constitutional right to have an abortion and altered the standards for analyzing restrictions of that right, invalidating one regulation but upholding the other four.

*DeJonge v Oregon (1937)

The Supreme Court of the United States held that the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause applied to freedom of assembly.

District of Columbia v. Heller (2008 undecided)

The Supreme Court of the United States held that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects an individual's right to possess a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home, in federal enclaves.

Griswold v Connecticut (1965)

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution protected a right to privacy. The case involved a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptives.

*Mapp v Ohio (1961)

The United States Supreme Court decided that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures," may not be used in state law criminal prosecutions in state courts, as well, as had previously been the law, as in federal criminal law prosecutions in federal courts.

*Lemon v Kurtzman (1971)

The court found that the parochial school system was "an integral part of the religious mission of the Catholic Church," and held that the Act fostered "excessive entanglement" between government and religion, thus violating the Establishment Clause.

*New York Times v United States (1971)

The ruling made it possible for the New York Times and Washington Post newspapers to publish the then-classified Pentagon Papers without risk of government censorship or punishment.

Hamdi v Rumsfeld (2004)

United States Supreme Court case in which the Court reversed the dismissal of a habeas corpus petition brought on behalf of Yaser Esam Hamdi, a U.S. citizen being detained indefinitely as an "illegal enemy combatant."

*United States v Lopez (1995)

While Congress had broad lawmaking authority under the Commerce Clause, the power was limited, and did not extend so far from "commerce" as to authorize the regulation of the carrying of handguns, especially when there was no evidence that carrying them affected the economy on a massive scale.