AP Governemnt & Politics Ch. 5 Key Cases

Question 1

Scott v. Sandford

Answer 1

The 1857 Supreme Court decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed no rights as a citizen & that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in the territories.

Question 2

Plessy v. Ferguson

Answer 2

An 1896 Supreme Court decision that provided a constitutional justification for segregation by ruling that a Louisiana law requiring “equal but separate accommodations for the White and colored races” was constitutional.

Question 3

Brown v. Board of Education

Answer 3

The 1954 Supreme Court decision holding that school segregation in Topeka, Kansas, was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protections. (hint: marked the end of legal segregation in the U.S.).

Question 4

Korematsu v. United States

Answer 4

A 1944 Supreme Court decision that upheld as constitutional the internment of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent in encampments during WWII.

Question 5

Reed v. Reed

Answer 5

The landmark case in 1971 in which the Supreme Court for the first time upheld a claim of gender discrimination.

Question 6

Craig v. Boren

Answer 6

In this 1976 ruling, the Supreme Court established the “medium scrutiny” standard for determining gender discrimination.

Question 7

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

Answer 7

A 1978 Supreme Court decision holding that a state university could not admit less qualified individuals solely because of their race.

Question 8

Adarand Constructors v. Pena

Answer 8

A 1995 Supreme Court decision that federal programs that classify people by race, even for an ostensibly benign purpose such as expanding opportunities for minorities, should be presumed to be unconstitutional.