Court Cases Flashcards
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Group of Jewish families sued a NY school district for having a prayer in the morning.
Supreme Court ruled that prayer violated the establishment cause.
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
An Amish family sued Wisconsin for requiring them to pay a fine for not sending their children to school after the eighth grade.
Supreme Court ruled in favor of the family saying that they were protected under the First Amendment free exercise clause.
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Students were suspended for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War.
Supreme Court ruled that arms were a form of symbolic speech (which was protected under the First Amendment).
Schenck v. United States (1919)
During WWI, a man was arrested for handing out a flier that urged men to resist the draft and not enlist.
Supreme Court ruled against Schenck, stating that speech inciting “clear and present danger” was not protected by the first amendment.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
A group of African-Americans argued that segregated schools violated the fourteenth amendment’s equal protection clause.
Ruled that separate was NOT equal.
Reversed “separate but equal” ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson.
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Supreme Court ruled that a woman’s choice to terminate pregnancy during the first trimester was her right under the right to privacy.
Made it unconstitutional for a state to criminalize abortion.
Marbury v. Madison
Established the principle of judicial review, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws that they find to violate the Constitution.
New York Co. v. United States (1971)
Government attempted to prevent the New York Times from publishing the pentagon papers.
Supreme Court ruled that the New York Times were protected by the First Amendment Freedom of the Press.
The pentagon papers involved top secret information that the government wanted to suppress before publication (AKA prior restraint).
