court cases
Westside Community Schools v. Mergens (1990)
1990 Court directed schools to permit student religious group activities on the same basis as other student activities when the schools operates broad-based extracurricular programs
Schenck v. United States (1919)
A 1919 decision upholding the conviction of a socialist who had urged young men to resist the draft during World War I. Justice Holmes declared that government can limit speech if the speech provokes a "clear and present danger" of substantive evils.
New Jersey vs. T.L.O(1985)
A court case in which a 14 year old teen was searched by her vice principal after being caught smoking a cigarette. The teen was put under probation even though T.L.O moved to suppress evidence. The New Jersey Supreme Court reversed, holding that the exclusionary rule of the Fourth Amendment applies to searches and seizures conducted by school officials in public schools.
Reed v. Reed (1971)
Classifications based on gender must be substantially related to an important government interest in order to be upheld per the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
Established the guidelines for determining whether public officials and public figures could win damage suits for libel. To do so, said the court, such indie must prove that the defamation statements made about them were made with "actual malice" and reckless disregard for the truth
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)
Extended the first amendment's right to freedom of expression to public school students, as long as they did not disrupt the classroom
Bethel School District no. 403 v. Fraser (1986)
Fraser was suspended from school for making a speech full of Sexual double entendres at a school assembly. Supreme Court held that his suspension did not violate 1st amendment
Gitlow v. New York (1925)
Gitlow publishes manifesto advocating socialism. Result: SC rules that arresting him is a violation of free speech but if that speech leads to dangerous actions then the legislative branch may decide what is or isn't safe to say. Speech can be punished even if no action is taken. *1st case of selective incorporation*
Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
In Lawrence v. Texas (2003), the Supreme Court ruled that state laws banning homosexual sodomy are unconstitutional as a violation of the right to privacy. The case began with the arrest of John Geddes Lawrence, a Houston resident, by the Houston Police, dispatched to Lawrence's apartment complex in response to a reported weapons disturbance. When the police entered Lawrence's apartment unit, they found him engaged in a sexual act with another man, Tyron Garner. Both men were detained, held in police custody overnight, and charged with violating the Texas "Homosexual Conduct" law, which provided that a "person commits an offense if he engages in deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex." After the men were convicted and fined, Lawrence appealed, arguing that that the Homosexual Conduct law was unconstitutional because it discriminated against homosexuals in violation of the right to privacy and the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
Parents vs Seattle School district
School plans that use race alone as a qualifying criterion for school assignments is unconstitutional.
Gideon v. Wainwright(1963)
Supreme court decision holding that anyone accused of a felony where imprisonment may be imposed, however poor he or she might be, has a right to a lawyer
Near v. Minnesota(1931)
Supreme court decision holding that the first amendment protects newspapers from prior restraint
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Supreme court decision ruling that the fourth amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures must be extended to the states as well as the federal government
Miller v. California(1973)
Supreme court decision that avoided defining obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene in terms of appealing to a "prurient interest"
Furman v. Georgia (1972)
Supreme court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty
Gregg v. Georgia(1976)
Supreme court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, stating that "it is an extreme sanction, suitable to the most extreme of crimes." Court did not believe that the death sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Supreme court decisions that sets guidelines for police questioning of accused persons to protect them against self-incrimination and to protect their right to counsel
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
Supreme court held in a 5-4 decision that the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution applies to federal enclaves and protects an individuals right to possess a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defence within the home
NAACP v. Alabama (1958)
Supreme court protected the right to assemble peaceably case when it decided the NAACP did not have to reveal its membership list and this subject its members to harassment
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000)
Supreme court ruled that the opposition to homosexuality is part of BSA's "expressive message" and that allowing homosexuals as adult leaders would interfere with that message
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
Supreme court struck down s law banning the burning of the american flag on the grounds that such action was symbolic speech protected by the first amendment
Morse v. Fredeerick (2007)
The court held 5-4 that the first amendment does not prevent educators from suppressing, at a school-supervised event, student speech that is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use
New York Times Co. v. U.S. (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
Reynolds v. United States (1879)
a Supreme Court of the United States case that held that religious duty was not a defense to a criminal indictment. Reynolds was the first Supreme Court opinion to address the Impartial Jury and the Confrontation Clauses of the Sixth Amendment.
Palko v. Connecticut (1937)
a United States Supreme Court case concerning the incorporation of the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy.
Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)
a United States Supreme Court case deciding on the issue of silent school prayer.
Van Orden v. Perry (2005)
a United States Supreme Court case involving whether a display of the Ten Commandments on a monument given to the government at the Texas State Capitol in Austin violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith (1990)
a United States Supreme Court case that determined that the state could deny unemployment benefits to a person fired for violating a state prohibition on the use of peyote, even though the use of the drug was part of a religious ritual. Although states have the power to accommodate otherwise illegal acts done in pursuit of religious beliefs, they are not required to do so.
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
a case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States. The court ruled unanimously in an 8-0 decision that Pennsylvania's Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act (represented through David Kurtzman) from 1968 transgressed the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000)
a case heard before the United States Supreme Court. It ruled that a policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at high school football games violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Sherbert v. Verner (1963)
a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment required that government demonstrate a compelling government interest before denying unemployment compensation to someone who was fired because their job conflicted with their religion
Gitlow v. New York (1925)
a decision by the United States Supreme Court decided on June 8, 1925, which ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution had extended the reach of certain limitations on federal government authority set forth in the First Amendment—specifically the provisions protecting freedom of speech and freedom of the press—to the governments of the individual states.
Near v. Minnesota (1931)
a landmark United States Supreme Court decision that recognized the freedom of the press by roundly rejecting prior restraints on publication, a principle that was applied to free speech generally in subsequent jurisprudence. The Court ruled that a Minnesota law that targeted publishers of "malicious" or "scandalous" newspapers violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (as applied through the Fourteenth Amendment).
Everson v. Board of Education (1942)
a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which applied the Establishment Clause in the country's Bill of Rights to State law. Prior to this decision the First Amendment words, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" imposed limits only on the federal government, while many states continued to grant certain religious denominations legislative or effective privileges.
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)
court reversed the appellate court, and said that public schools do not have to allow student speech if it is inconsistent with the schools' educational mission
Church of the Lukuani Babalu Ave. v. City of Hialeah (1993)
forbidding the "unnecessary" killing of "an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption", was unconstitutional.
Citizens United
is a U.S. constitutional law case dealing with the regulation of campaign spending by organizations. The United States Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation. The principles articulated by the Supreme Court in the case have also been extended to for-profit corporations, labor unions and other associations.
Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court established a precedent that the United States Bill of Rights could not be applied to state governments. Thus, any state could pass a law, unless pre-empted by the Supremacy Clause (to which the Bill of Rights did not apply) permitting any violation of the Bill of Rights imaginable.
: McCreary County, KY v. American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky
issue was whether the Court should continue to inquire into the purpose behind a religious display and whether evaluation of the government's claim of secular purpose for the religious displays may take evolution into account under an Establishment Clause of the First Amendment analysis.
Roe v. Wade (1973)
ruled unconstitutional a state law that banned abortions except to save the life of the mother. The Court ruled that the states were forbidden from outlawing or regulating any aspect of abortion performed during the first trimester of pregnancy, could only enact abortion regulations reasonably related to maternal health in the second and third trimesters, and could enact abortion laws protecting the life of the fetus only in the third trimester. Even then, an exception had to be made to protect the life of the mother
Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)
the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. The controversial concept of partial-birth abortion is defined in the Act as any abortion in which the death of the fetus occurs when "the entire fetal head [...] or [...] any part of the fetal trunk past the navel is outside the body of the mother." Dr. Leroy Carhart and other physicians who perform late-term abortions sued to stop the Act from going into effect. The plaintiffs argued that the Act could apply to a more common abortion procedure known as "D&E;" ("dilation and evacuation"), as well as to the less common "intact D&E;," sometimes called D&X; ("dilation and extraction"). With this application the Act would ban most late-term abortions and thus be an unconstitutional "undue burden" on the right to an abortion, as defined by the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
the Supreme Court affirmed the basic ruling of Roe v. Wade that the state is prohibited from banning most abortions. Casey also ruled, however, that states may regulate abortions so as to protect the health of the mother and the life of the fetus, and may outlaw abortions of "viable" fetuses
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
the Supreme Court ruled that a state's ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy. The case concerned a Connecticut law that criminalized the encouragement or use of birth control. The 1879 law provided that "any person who uses any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purposes of preventing conception shall be fined not less than forty dollars or imprisoned not less than sixty days."
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)
the Supreme Court ruled that the use of affirmative action in school admission is constitutional if it treats race as one factor among many, its purpose is to achieve a "diverse" class, and it does not substitute for individualized review of applicant, but is unconstitutional if it automatically increases an applicant's chances over others simply because of his or her race.
Marbury vs. Madison
the most important case in Supreme Court history, was the first U.S. Supreme Court case to apply the principle of "judicial review" -- the power of federal courts to void acts of Congress in conflict with the Constitution. Written in 1803 by Chief Justice John Marshall, the decision played a key role in making the Supreme Court a separate branch of government on par with Congress and the executive.
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)
was a United States Supreme Court decision on July 3, 1989 upholding a Missouri law that imposed restrictions on the use of state funds, facilities, and employees in performing, assisting with, or counseling on abortions.
Korematsu V. United States (1944)
was a landmark United States Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II regardless of citizenship.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education.
Plessy V. Fergusson (1896)
was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equal."[1]
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. It upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. However, the court ruled that specific quotas, such as the 16 out of 100 seats set aside for minority students by the University of California, Davis School of Medicine, were impermissible.
