Cases!!! Flashcards
Barron v Baltimore
Bill of Rights didn’t apply to the states/cities, just natl. govt.
Gitlow v NY
freedom of press and speech are “fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment from impairment by the states” as well as by the federal govt. (1st time Bill of Rights was applied to the states)
Lemon v Kurtzman
aid to church-related schools must:
- have a secular legislative purpose
- have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion
- not foster excessive govt. entanglement w/ religion
Zelman v Simmons-Harris
upheld state (Ohio) providing families w/ vouchers that could be used to pay for tuition at religious schools
Engel v. Vitale
state officials violated the 1st Amendment when they wrote a prayer to be recited by NY schoolkids
School District of Abington Township, PA v Schempp
PA law requiring Bible reading in schools violated the establishment clause of the 1st Amendment (govt. can’t interfere w/ practice of religion)
Near v Minnesota
1st Amendment protects newspapers from prior restraint; restrictions when it applies to natl. security
Schenck v US
upheld conviction of a socialist who urged young men to resist the draft in WWI; govt. can limit speech if it provokes a “clear and present danger” of substantive evils
Zurcher v Stanford Daily
proper search warrant could be applied to a newspaper as well as to anyone else w/o necessarily violating 1st
Amendment
Roth v US
“obscenity is not w/in the area of constitutionally protected speech or press”
Miller v CA
avoided defining obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene in terms of appealing to…
the work, taken as a whole, appealed “to a prurient interest in sex”
showed “potentially offensive” sexual conduct specifically defined by an obscenity law
lacked “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value”
Marbury v. Madison
established judicial review
Fletcher v. Peck
1st case SCOTUS overturned a state law on constitutional grounds; extended judicial review to state laws
McCulloch v. MD
States don’t have power to tax natl. bank or govt.; reinforced supremacy clause
Gibbons v. Ogden
NY state couldn’t grant a steamship company a monopoly on an interstate waterway; increased federal power over interstate commerce
NY Times v. Sullivan
made it hard for celebrities to sue for libel (newspaper printed false story but thought it was true–> not libel)
Texas v. Johnson
protected flag burning as symbolic speech
Morse v. Frederick
“Bong hits 4 Jesus”–limited students’ free speech
Reynolds v. US
Banned polygamy; all religious beliefs are protected by free exercise clause but some religious practices are restricted; religious practices can’t make legal an act that is otherwise illegal
Wisconsin v. Yoder
Wisconsin could not require Amish parents to send kids to public school beyond 8th grade; doing so violated long-held religious beliefs that Amish kids would help families at home after 8th grade
Oregon v. Smith
Banned use of illegal drugs in religious ceremonies; govt can restrict religious practices when they break a law
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
Corporations have a first amendment right to expressly support political candidates; created SuperPACs
Tinker v. Des Moines
Protected some forms of symbolic speech in schools; students don’t lose all rights in school but their speech can’t disrupt learning
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier
School district can censor student newspapers as long as censorship is related to legitimate concerns
Weeks v. US
Created exclusionary rule
Mapp v. Ohio
Exclusionary rule applied to states through selective incorporation doctrine (14th Amendment due process)
Miranda v. Arizona
Subjects in police custody have certain rights and must be informed of those rights; read Miranda Rights
Gideon v. Wainwright
Those that can’t afford an attorney will have one provided by state; right to counsel extended to states through selective incorporation
Gregg v. Georgia
Capital punishment is constitutional because it isn’t cruel or unusual punishment
Griswold v. Connecticut
A CT law criminalizing contraceptives violated marital privacy; Amendments 1, 3, 4, 9, 14 create “penumbras” that suggest a right to privacy; freedom of privacy incorporated to states
Row v. Wade
State ban on all abortions was unconstitutional; permitted states to limit abortions in 2nd and 3rd trimesters
Plessy v. Ferguson
Upheld Jim Crow segregation; “separate but equal”
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson; racially segregated schools violate equal protection clause of the 14th
Brown v. Board 2nd
Warren Court ordered schools to desegregate “with all deliberate speed”
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Race can be used as an admissions factor; racial quotas as unconstitutional
Grutter v. Bollinger
Upheld decision in Bakke, but threw out the undergraduate system of applicant selection because minorities were given a large boost in points in the admission process
Baker v. Carr
Ruled that the judicial branch of govt can rule on matters of legislative apportionment
Wesberry v. Sanders
“One person, one vote” in congressional elections; state legislative districts must be as equal as possible–>cities and suburbs had greater representation
Korematsu v. US
Upheld internment of Japanese Americans during WW2
United States v. Nixon
Rules that there was no constitutional guarantee of unqualified executive privilege
Clinton v. NY
President’s use of line-item veto is unconstitutional because it gave president legislative powers
Shelby County v. Holder
Repealed parts of the Voting Rights Act; allowed for expansion of photo ID laws (harder to vote)
