Court Cases

Question 0

Gitlow v. New York

Answer 0

1925 Freedoms of the press and speech are fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment

Question 1

McCulloh v. Maryland

Answer 1

1819 Established the supremacy of the national government over state government. Congress had certain implied powers in addition to the powers enumerated in the Constitution.

Question 2

Marbury v. Madison

Answer 2

1803 Asserted Supreme Court’s right to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution/Power of judicial review over Congress

Question 3

Plessy v. Ferguson

Answer 3

1896 Provided a constitutional justification for segregation by ruling that a Louisiana law requiring “equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races” was unconstitutional

Question 4

Gibbons v. Ogden

Answer 4

1824 Gibbons broadly interpreted (1-8) Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce as encompassing virtually every form of commercial activity

Question 5

Barron v. Baltimore

Answer 5

1833 Bill of Rights restrained only the national government, not the states and cities

Question 6

Engel v. Vitale

Answer 6

1962 determined state officials violated the First Amendment when they wrote a prayer to be recited by New York’s schoolchildren

Question 7

Lemon v. Kurtzman

Answer 7

1971 Established that aid to church-related schools must 1. Have a secular legislative purpose 2. Have a primary effect that does not advance or inhibit religion 3. Not foster government entanglement with religion

Question 8

Schenck v. United States

Answer 8

1919 Upheld the conviction of a socialist who had urged resistance to draft during WWI. Gov can limit speech that provokes a “clear and present danger” of substantive evils

Question 9

Near v. Minnesota

Answer 9

1931 Supreme Court decision holding that the First Amendment protects newspapers from prior restraint

Question 10

New York Times v. Sullivan

Answer 10

1964 To win damage suits for libel, public figures must prove the statements made were “actual malice” and reckless disregard for the truth

Question 11

Brown v. Board of Education

Answer 11

1954 School segregation was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection

Question 12

Tinker v. Des Moines

Answer 12

1968 Constitutional for a school to ban anti-war armbands in order to maintain discipline

Question 13

Texas v. Johnson

Answer 13

1989 Supreme Court struck down a law banning the burning of the American flag on the grounds that such action was symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment

Question 14

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

Answer 14

2010 Ruled that individuals, corporations, and unions could donate unlimited amounts of money to groups that make independent political expenditures

Question 15

Miranda v. Arizona

Answer 15

1966 Miranda Rights, “You have the right to remain silent…”

Question 16

Powell v. Alabama

Answer 16

Right to attorney in capital cases

Question 17

Gideon v. Waine Wright

Answer 17

Right to attorney in felony cases

Question 18

Arger Singer v. Hamlin

Answer 18

1972 Right to attorney in cases where the punishment is imprisonment (includes misdemeanors)

Question 19

Firman v. Georgia

Answer 19

1972 Outlaws death penalty due to vague sentencing

Question 20

Gregg v. Georgia

Answer 20

1976 After Furman v. Georgia, death penalty gets back to the Supreme Court after 35 states change laws, Supreme Court backs it

Question 21

McKlesky v. Kemp

Answer 21

Death Penalty did not violate Equal Protection in the 14th Amendment due to more blacks being sentenced than whites

Question 22

Griswold v. Connecticut

Answer 22

1965 Outlawed birth control, Supreme Court overruled woman’s sentence based on right to privacy

Question 23

Roe v. Wade

Answer 23

No state control over abortion during 1st trimester, regulations during 2nd, can ban during 3rd

Question 24

District of Columbia v. Heller

Answer 24

Right to bear arms to the individual

Question 25

Dejonge v. Oregon

Answer 25

1937 Due process applies to freedom of assembly. Dirk DeJonge right to form Communist assemblies and speak at them

Question 26

Mapping v. Ohio

Answer 26

1961 Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures extended to states

Question 27

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

Answer 27

1992 loosened standard for evaluating restrictions on abortion from one of “strict scrutiny” or any restraints on a “fundamental right” to one of “undue burden” that permits considerably more regulation

Question 28

National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius

Answer 28

2012 the individual mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) was unconstitutional but severable from other provisions of the act, and that the Medicaid expansion of the ACA was constitutional

Question 29

California Board of Regents v. Bakke

Answer 29

1978 Upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be a factor in college admission

Question 30

Reed v. Reed

Answer 30

1971 First time SC upheld claim of gender discrimination

Question 31

Baker v. Carr

Answer 31

(1962 Federal Court can intervene in redistricting (changing voting districts)