14 Supreme Court Cases Flashcards
Marbury v. Madison
After Thomas Jefferson won the presidential election, John Adams attempted to make a bunch of commissions for new judges since Jefferson was antifederalist. He made the commissions and gave them to his vice president Madison to deliver. Madison was supposed ensure that they got to every judge by midnight, but it was late and Madison was going to be a justice which is what he wanted so he didn’t get them all delivered. Once Jefferson got into office, Jefferson withheld the commissions as he was an antifederalist and they were federalists. Marbury claimed that Jefferson had to give him his commission because he was promised to have it and the paperwork was already filled out it just had to be delivered. The supreme court said that Jefferson should have delivered the paperwork, yes. However, they could not force him as the constitution did not give them that power. This case established Judicial Review, an important concept that will be used for years to come. The supremacy clause was also a main part of this case because it pointed out that the constitution is the supreme law of the land.
McCulloch v. Maryland
The federal government attempted to create a federal bank and placed on in the state of Maryland. Maryland did not like that and tried to tax the bank until it was bankrupt. McCulloch, the president of the bank refused to pay the taxes. The supreme court ruled that the federal government could make federal banks because it was necessary and proper to carrying out interstate commerce. The supreme court also said that the supremacy clause protected the federal bank from the state’s taxes because the federal law or establishments are supreme over the state’s taxes.
US v. Lopez
Lopez, a senior in high school, brought a gun to school and was arrested by the state. The state government dropped the charges on Lopez and the federal government took over. The federal government said that he violated the Gun Free School Zones Act that the federal government had recently set in place. The supreme court ruled that the federal government’s law was unconstitutional because they did not have the power to regulate schools and education since that was a reserved power for the states. The federal government then claimed that they could regulate guns in schools because it affected interstate commerce as tourists would not want to come to that area because of guns in schools. The supreme court stuck with their previous decision and said that the federal government’s claim was too loosely connected and therefore did not allow them to regulate guns in schools. The supreme court came to this decision because of federalism since regulating schools was a state power, not a federal power.
Baker v. Carr
Baker v. Carr was decided in 1962, before then Tennessee hadn’t redrawn their district lines since 1901 despite the movement to urban areas from rural areas found by the census. Tennessee was supposed to redraw the lines because of that, but they refused. The supreme court said Tennessee must redraw the lines because it violated the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause since the extra people in urban areas were not being counted as one person one vote. They were less than a vote because there were so many people in that district compared to others with more rural areas.
Shaw v. Reno
A North Carolina senator drew the district lines in NC in a way that she grouped a long strip of minority groups to get a minority representative for diversity. This is called racial gerrymandering and was found unconstitutional by the supreme court. The supreme court decided that it went against the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. The NC senator had to redraw the district lines so that it was not racial gerrymandering.
Engel v. Vitale
Originally, at the beginning of the day in school along with the pledge of allegiance there would be a school prayer over the intercom. Eventually, once the case reached the supreme court, the supreme court decided that schools cannot have a school prayer at the beginning of the day because it violated the establishment clause of the 1st amendment. The establishment clause states that the government can’t establish or favor one religion. In public schools having a prayer at the beginning of the day, the government is establishing a religion.
Wisconsin v. Yoder
An Amish family wanted to take their kids out of school just before they went to high school because of their religion. Wisconsin required kids to go to school until they were 16, but the Yoder kids were only 14. So Wisconsin would not allow the kids to be withdrawn from school. The supreme court ruled in favor of the Yoder family on the basis of the free-exercise clause of the 1st amendment. Wisconsin could not force the kids to continue their education if it violated a well-known and long-established religion.
Schenck v. US
During WW2, a group of people who opposed the draft made and gave flyers to people to resist the draft. The US arrested them and the case was tried in several courts. The Supreme court ruled in favor of the US against the claims of the group. They said that they could pass resistance flyers out because of the 1st amendment clause of free speech. The supreme court said that the US could limit speech at that time since it would affect the war. This established the clear and present danger test to limits on the freedom of speech.
Tinker v. Des Moines
A few high school kids went to school with a black armband opposing the war. An administrator suspended them until they would come to school without the black armband. They eventually came back to school, but instead of the black armband, they wore all black clothing. The Tinker family did not agree with the school’s decision and the case made it’s way up to the supreme court. The supreme court decided that the school had to allow kids to wear the armband in protest because it was free expression which fell under the freedom of speech clause of the 1st amendment. The supreme court said as long as a protest was not disrupting the goal of the school, education, then the school could not limit it.
Citizen’s United v. FEC
A corporation made a documentary against Hilary Clinton. The FEC tried to shut it down before it was allowed to air because it was essentially donating all of the money they used, which was a few million, to make the documentary to the other presidential candidate. The supreme court decided that corporations are people too, and therefore have freedom of speech. Corporations can also donate large sums of money to Super PACs, or PACs that are not run or working with candidates.
NY Times v. US
Part of the Pentagon Papers was leaked about the US military involvement in the Vietnam war. The New York Times got a hold of the information and tried to publish it. The US tried to exercise prior restraint so that NYT wouldn’t be able to publish it, but the supreme court said that they couldn’t do that because it was not a matter of national security at that time. Therefore, NYT was able to publish the information because they were protected by the 1st amendment’s freedom to the press clause.
McDonald v. Chicago
McDonald lived in an area where his house was frequently broken into. He went to a nearby gun store and tried to purchase a pistol to defend himself and his home, but Chicago would not accept his request because they were not issuing any new permits at the time. The case reached the supreme court and the supreme court ruled that McDonald could purchase a handgun under the 2nd amendment’s right to bear arms. They claimed that the 2nd amendment did not only apply to a militia but also applied to individual’s rights to bear arms, and thus Chicago could not deny him a handgun for self-defense.
Gideon v. Wainwright
Gideon was arrested for breaking and entering a house but when he said that he was too poor to afford an attorney, the court he was tried in refused him an attorney. They said that his case did not meet the requirements they had for a person to get a state appointed attorney. He was convicted and sent to jail. While in jail, he educated himself on the law and the constitution. He believed that the court violated his 6th amendment right to an attorney and the case came to the supreme court. The supreme court also decided that Gideon was owed an attorney as per the 6th amendment of the constitution.
Brown v. The Board of Education
Linda Brown, a black student, wanted to go to a school that was closer to her home. She was denied the ability to attend that school because it was an all-white school and she was not. The Brown family took the board of education to court because they felt their decision violated Linda’s rights. The supreme court eventually considered the case and sided with the Brown family because of the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause. This decision desegregated schools, but other establishments had to wait another 10 years to be desegregated in 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was passed.
