Court Cases Flashcards
Arizona v. United States
An Arizona law providing authority for local law enforcement to enforce immigration law violated the enumerated powers of Congress and is pre-empted by federal statute. Arizona law enforcement may inquire about a resident’s legal status during lawful encounters, but may not implement its own immigration rules
Barron v. Baltimore
State governments are not bound by the Fifth Amendment’s requirement for just compensation in cases of eminent domain, rendered Barron’s dock unusable
Brown v. Board of Education
Segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, because separate facilities are inherently unequal
Bush v. Gore
In the circumstances of this case, any manual recount of votes seeking to meet the December 12 “safe harbor” deadline would be unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
Citizens United v. FEC
Freedom of the Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation. And the provision of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act prohibiting unions, corporations and not-for-profit organizations from broadcasting electioneering communications within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary election violates the clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
District of Columbia v. Heller
The Second Amendment guarantees an individual’s right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Judgment reversed and suit dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
- Persons of African descent cannot be, nor were ever intended to be, citizens under the U.S. Const. Plaintiff is without standing to file a suit.
- The Property Clause is only applicable to lands possessed at the time of ratification (1787). As such, Congress cannot ban slavery in the territories. Missouri Compromise is unconstitutional.
- Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibits the federal government from freeing slaves brought into federal territories.
Griswold v. Connecticut
A Connecticut law criminalizing the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy
Lawrence v. Texas
A Texas law classifying consensual, adult homosexual intercourse as illegal sodomy violated the privacy and liberty of adults to engage in private intimate conduct under the 14th Amendment. Texas state courts reversed and charges dismissed.
Marbury v. Madison
Section 13 of the Judiciary Act of 1789 is unconstitutional to the extent it purports to enlarge the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court beyond that permitted by the Constitution. Congress cannot pass laws that are contrary to the Constitution, and it is the role of the Judicial system to interpret what the Constitution permits.
McCullough v. Maryland
Although the Constitution does not specifically give Congress the power to establish a bank, it does delegate the ability to tax and spend, and a bank is a proper and suitable instrument to assist the operations of the government in the collection and disbursement of the revenue. Because federal laws have supremacy over state laws, Maryland had no power to interfere with the bank’s operation by taxing it
Milliken v. Bradley
The Court held that “[w]ith no showing of significant violation by the 53 outlying school districts and no evidence of any interdistrict violation or effect,” the district court’s remedy was “wholly impermissible” and not justified by Brown v. Board of Education
Against busing students across district lines, court cannot do anything about de facto segregation
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebilius
The Tax Anti-Injunction Act does not apply because the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s labeling of the individual mandate as a “penalty” instead of a “tax” precludes it from being treated as a tax under the Anti-Injunction Act. (2) The individual mandate provision of the ACA functions constitutionally as a tax, and is therefore a valid exercise of Congress’s taxing power. (3) Congress exceeded its Spending Clause authority by coercing states into a transformative change in their Medicaid programs by threatening to revoke all of their Medicaid funding if they did not participate in the Medicaid expansion, which would have an excessive impact on a state’s budget. Congress may withhold from states refusing to comply with the ACA’s Medicaid expansion provision only the additional funding for Medicaid provided under the ACA
Obergefell v. Hodges
The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State. United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed. Baker v. Nelson overturned
Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Pennsylvania law that required spousal awareness prior to obtaining an abortion was invalid under the Fourteenth Amendment because it created an undue burden on married women seeking an abortion. Requirements for parental consent, informed consent, and 24-hour waiting period were constitutionally valid regulations
