Significant Court Cases to Know

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

Engel v. Vitale is one of the required Supreme Court cases for AP U.S. Government and Politics. This case resulted in the landmark decision that established that it was unconstitutional for public schools to lead students in prayer.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution requires the states to provide defense attorneys to criminal defendants charged with serious offenses who cannot afford lawyers themselves.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) In this milestone decision, the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case.

In this milestone decision, the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Maryland that Congress had the authority to establish a federal bank, and that the financial institution could not be taxed by the states. But the decision carried a much larger significance because it helped establish that the Constitution gave Congress powers that weren't explicitly spelled out in the document.

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

Reno, 509 U.S. 630 (1993), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in the area of redistricting and racial gerrymandering. The court ruled in a 5-4 decision that redistricting based on race must be held to a standard of strict scrutiny under the equal protection clause

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction

McDonald v. Chicago (2010

The court reached the holding with the idea that self defense is a significant right so the 2nd Amendment applies to the states. Through the 14th Amendment, the 2nd Amendment, the right to bear arms, is connected and ruled with in the individual states.

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

Tinker v. Des Moines is a historic Supreme Court ruling from 1969 that cemented students' rights to free speech in public schools. Mary Beth Tinker was a 13-year-old junior high school student in December 1965 when she and a group of students decided to wear black armbands to school to protest the war in Vietnam.

United States v. Lopez (1995)

US v. Lopez preserved the system of federalism, which delegates certain powers to states and certain powers to the federal government. It upheld the principle that states have control of local issues, like gun possession on school grounds.

New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)

United States (1971) Often referred to as the "Pentagon Papers" case, the landmark Supreme Court decision in New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971), defended the First Amendment right of free press against prior restraint by the government.

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

Yoder, legal case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on May 15, 1972, ruled (7-0) that Wisconsin's compulsory school attendance law was unconstitutional as applied to the Amish (primarily members of the Old Order Amish Mennonite Church), because it violated their First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. The Court held that individual's interests in the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment outweighed the State's interests in compelling school attendance beyond the eighth grade

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

a US constitutional law case, in which the United States Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting political independent expenditures by corporations, associations, or labor unions.

Baker v. Carr (1961)

case that held that federal courts could hear cases alleging that a state's drawing of electoral boundaries, i.e. redistricting, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

Schenck v. United States (1919)

the Supreme Court invented the famous "clear and present danger" test to determine when a state could constitutionally limit an individual's free speech rights under the First Amendment.