Court Cases Flashcards
Unit 1
1
Q
Marbury v. Madison
A
- 1803
- Secretary James Madison refused to deliver a commission to William Marbury as justice of peace. Marybury sued.
- Article III and Article VI
- OUTCOME: justice John Marshall establishes the courts power of judicial review over acts of Congress
2
Q
Tinker v. Des Moines
A
- 1965
- Siblings John and Mary Beth Tinker were expelled for wearing peace armbands to protest the Viet War.
- First amendment, free speech clause
- OUTCOME: Supreme Court decided that First Amendment protections of free speech extend beyond what’s SPOKEN. School officials cannot suppress student’s free speech unless it is materially disruptive
3
Q
Gideon v. Wainwright
A
- 1963
- 6th amendment, right to counsel;14th amendment, due process (incorporation)
- Clarence Earl Gideon was arrested as a suspect of robbery, and was denied a lawyer in a Florida trial court.
- Louie L. Wainwright was Florida’s Secretary of the Department of Corrections
- OUTCOME: Supreme Court extends the right to counsel to all accused people of a felony in a state court.
- Later the Supreme Court even made it possible for a reversal of a conviction for criminal defendants who were denied the right to choose a counsel
4
Q
Roe v. Wade
A
- 1973
- 9th amendment, rights reserved to the people
- 14th amendment, due process clause and right to privacy
- Pregnant and unmarried Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) sought an abortion in Texas, found out it was illegal in the state unless it was to save the mother’s life
- OUTCOME: Supreme Court says denial of a woman’s right to abortion is a denial of 14th amendment rights
- Forbids states from regulating abortions in the pregnancy’s 1st trimester, permits regulations to preserve mother’s health in the 2nd tri, and permits state to ban abortion in the 3rd tri
- this was to balance the state interests of protecting the mother’s health and protecting prenatal health
5
Q
U.S. v. Lopez
A
- 1995
- Commerce Clause, Article 1
- Highschool senior Alfonso Lopez conceal carried a gun to school, and was charged for violating the federal statute, Guns Free School Zone Act (1990)
- OUTCOME: SC rules that Guns Free Act was unconstitutional and exceeds powers of Congress under the commerce clause, as it has nothing to do with interstate commerce
6
Q
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
A
- 1988
- first amendment, free speech
- Cady Kuhlmeier and two other high school journalists sued Hazelwood High for removing articles from their school newspaper issue, 2 articles dealing with teen pregnancy and divorce
- OUTCOME: Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school. Since the school paper wasn’t a public forum, the school could restrict any student speech that was inconsistent with the school’s educational mission
7
Q
Mahanoy v. B.L.
A
- 2021
- First amendment, free speech
- B.L. did not make Mahanoy HS varsity cheer team, posted on her Snapchat story repeatedly using the “F-word”, was suspended from the JV cheer team for a year as punishment
- OUTCOME: SC ruled that the school’s decision to suspend B.L. was a violation of her first amendment rights because they could not regulate off-campus speech that was not threatening or materially disruptive to in-school learning.
8
Q
McCulloh v. Maryland
A
- 1819
- Article 1 Section 8 “Necessary and Proper Clause”/ Elastic Clause
- In 1818, Maryland taxed The Second Bank (new national bank) Baltimore branch $15k. After the branch refused to pay, the cashier James McCulloh was sued.
- OUTCOME: Chief Justice Marshall ruled that Congress has certain implied powers that go beyond its enumerated powers in the constitution. Congress was just doing what was “Necessary and Proper” fulfilling an enumerated power (regulating commerce), and establishing a National Bank would be them fulfilling an implied power
9
Q
Mapp v. Ohio
A
- 1961
- 4th amendment, unreasonable searches and seizures; exclusionary rule
- Dollree Mapp had her home searched on the suspicion that she was harboring a bomb fugitive. The police instead found obscene materials, which she was convicted for. She argued that this wasn’t fair since she was arrested based on a search the police had no probable cause for.
- OUTCOME: the Supreme Court decided to reverse her conviction, ruling that the evidence was seized illegally.
10
Q
Miranda v. Arizona
A
- 1966
- 5th amendment, self-incrimination, “Miranda rights”
- Ernesto Miranda was arrested, interrogated, and found guilty based on a written confession from the interrogation that his lawyer was not present at. The police officers who arrested him admitted that they did not let him know of his 5th amendment rights.
- OUTCOME: Supreme Court ruled in favor of Miranda. The 5th amendment requires that law enforcement let defendants know of their rights to protect against self-incrimination (Miranda rights) or else that evidence is invalid in court
- right to remain silent and stop answering questions, anything can and will be used against you, and you have the right to an attorney and will be provided with one if you can’t afford it
11
Q
New Jersey v. T.L.O
A
- 1985
- 4th amendment, exclusionary rule, unreasonable searches and seizures
- T.L.O., a NJ high school student, was caught smoking in the bathroom. School officials then searched her purse; found cigarettes, marijuana, and a list of students who owed her money. She was sentenced to a year probation, but argued this violated her 4th amendment rights
- OUTCOME: Supreme Court ruled school officials do not need “probable cause” to conduct warrantless searches of student property, but only “reasonable suspicion” that they’ve broken a school rule. The exclusionary act did not apply to TLO’s case.
12
Q
Schenck v. United States
A
- 1919
- First amendment, free speech clause
- a socialist named Aaron Schenck distributed leaflets urging people to peacefully dodge the draft during WW1. Was charged under Espionage Act of 1917.
- OUTCOME: Justice Holmes rules they could restrict free speech if it presented a “clear and present danger”. Compared it to yelling “Fire!” in a theater, which is unprotected speech
13
Q
Bethel v. Fraser
A
- 1986
- First amendment, free speech
- Matthew Fraser made a speech in front of 600 students at his high school, and used a graphic sexual metaphor to promote his friend’s candidacy for student office, and was suspended for 2 days
- OUTCOME: Supreme Court ruled that schools had the right to restrict Fraser’s speech because it was vulgar and lewd because it was against the fundamental values of schools.
14
Q
Brown v. Board of Education
A
- 1954
- Equal protections clause, 14th amendment
- Consolidated cases from Kansas, SC, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington DC
- Linda Brown was a Black student at a school in Topeka, Kansas where Black kids were denied entrance into white schools based on segregation laws
- OUTCOME: SC ruled that separate but equal was inherently unequal and violated the 14th amendment, and overturned Plessy
15
Q
Obergefell v. Hodges
A
- 2015
- 14th amendment, due process clause, equal protections clause
- Same-sex couples sued Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, and Tennessee for their bans on same sex marriage
- OUTCOME: Supreme Court ruled that states must license all marriages and recognize all kinds of marriage otherwise it violates the due process clause.
