civil rights court cases

Question 1

Dredd Scott v Sanford (1857)

Answer 1

Slavery, Jim Crow, and Racial Segregation

Congress had the authority to ban slavery in a territory. A slave was considered a piece of property.

Question 2

Plessy v Ferguson (1896)

Answer 2

Slavery, Jim Crow, and Racial Segregation

Upheld separate but equal facilities for white and black people on railroad cars.

Question 3

Brown v Board of Education (1964)

Answer 3

Slavery, Jim Crow, and Racial Segregation

Said separate public schools are inherently unequal, thus starting desegregation.

Question 4

Green v County School Board of New Kent County (1968)

Answer 4

Slavery, Jim Crow, and Racial Segregation

Banned freedom of choice plan for integrating schools, suggesting blacks and whites must actually attend racially mixed schools.

Question 5

Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971)

Answer 5

Slavery, Jim Crow, and Racial Segregation

Approved busing and redrawing district lines as ways of integrating public schools.

Question 6

Reed v Reed (1971)

Answer 6

Women’s Rights

Gender discrimination violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution.

Question 7

Craig v Boren (1976)

Answer 7

Women’s Rights

Gender discrimination can be justified only if it serves “important governmental objectives” and is “substantially related to those objectives.”

Question 8

Rostker v Goldberg (1981)

Answer 8

Women’s Rights

Congress can draft men without drafting women.

Question 9

Griswold v Connecticut (1965)

Answer 9

Privacy and Abortion

Found a “right to privacy” in the Constitution that would ban any state law against selling contraceptives.

Question 10

Roe v Wade (1973)

Answer 10

Privacy and Abortion

State laws prohibiting abortion were unconstitutional.

Question 11

Webster v Reproductive Health Services (1989)

Answer 11

Privacy and Abortion

Allowed states to ban abortion from public hospitals and permitted doctors to test to determine whether fetuses were viable.

Question 12

Planned Parenthood v Casey (1992)

Answer 12

Privacy and Abortion

Reaffirmed Roe v Wade but upheld certain limits on its use.

Question 13

Gonzales v Carhart (2007)

Answer 13

Privacy and Abortion

Federal law may ban certain forms of partial-birth abortion.

Question 14

Dobbs v Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization (2022)

Answer 14

Privacy and Abortion

Overturned Roe v Wade and returned abortion policy to the states.

Question 15

Regents of the University of California v Bakke (1978)

Answer 15

Affirmative Action

In a confused set of rival opinions, the decisive vote was cast by Justice Powell, who said that a quota-like ban on Bakke’s admission was unconstitutional but that “diversity” was a legitimate goal that could be pursued by taking race into account.

Question 16

United Steelworkers v Weber (1979)

Answer 16

Affirmative Action

Despite the ban on racial classifications in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, this case upheld the use of race in an employment agreement between the steelworkers union and a steel plant.

Question 17

Richmond v Crosen (1989)

Answer 17

Affirmative Action

Affirmative action must be judged by the strict scrutiny standard that requires any race-conscious plan to be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest.

Question 18

Fisher v University of Texas at Austin et al (2016)

Answer 18

Affirmative Action

A university may consider race as one of many factors in admissions decisions to create a diverse group of students.

Question 19

Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard (2023)

Answer 19

Affirmative Action

Race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 20

Lawrence v Texas (2003)

Answer 20

Gay Rights

State law may not ban sexual relations between same-sex partners.

Question 21

Obergefell v Hodges (2015)

Answer 21

Gay Rights

Same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.