Gov 4/10 SCOTUS cases Flashcards
Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of judicial review, An appointed Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia, but his commission was not delivered. He petitioned the Supreme Court to compel the new Secretary of State, James Madison, to deliver the documents.
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Congress chartered The Second Bank of the United States. In 1818, the state of Maryland passed legislation to impose taxes on the bank. The cashier of the Baltimore branch of the bank, refused to pay the tax. The state appeals court held that the Second Bank was unconstitutional because the Constitution did not provide a textual commitment for the federal government to charter a bank.
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
During World War I, socialists distributed leaflets declaring that the draft violated the Thirteenth Amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude. The leaflets urged the public to disobey the draft, but advised only peaceful action. Schenck was charged with conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act of 1917 by attempting to cause insubordination in the military and to obstruct recruitment. They were convicted of violating this law and appealed on the grounds that the statute violated the First Amendment. The Court held that the Espionage Act did not violate the First Amendment and was an appropriate exercise of Congress’ wartime authority.
Schenck v. US (1919)
African American students had been denied admittance to certain public schools based on laws allowing public education to be segregated by race. They argued that such segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court ruled separate but equal educational facilities for racial minorities is inherently unequal, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
A Tennessee citizen and other Tennessee citizens alleged that a 1901 law designed to apportion the seats for the state’s General Assembly was virtually ignored. Baker’s suit detailed how Tennessee’s reapportionment efforts ignored significant economic growth and population shifts within the state. the Court held that there were no such questions to be answered in this case and that legislative apportionment was a justiciable issue.
Baker v. Carr (1962)
A man was charged in Florida state court with felony breaking and entering. When he appeared in court without a lawyer, He requested that the court appoint one for him. According to Florida state law, however, an attorney may only be appointed to an indigent defendant in capital cases, so the trial court did not appoint one. He represented himself in trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. He filed a habeas corpus petition in the Florida Supreme Court, arguing that the trial court’s decision violated his constitutional right to be represented by counsel. The Florida Supreme Court denied habeas corpus relief. The Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of a right to assistance of counsel applies to criminal defendants in state court by way of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Gideon v. Wainright (1963)
The New York State Board of Regents authorized a short, voluntary prayer for recitation at the start of each school day. A group of organizations joined forces in challenging the prayer, claiming that it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The New York Court of Appeals rejected their arguments. The state cannot hold prayers in public schools, even if participation is not required and the prayer is not tied to a particular religion.
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
In December 1965, a group of students held a meeting in the home of 16-year-old Christopher Eckhardt to plan a public showing of their support for a truce in the Vietnam war. They decided to wear black armbands throughout the holiday season and to fast on December 16 and New Year’s Eve. The principals of the school learned of the plan and met on December 14 to create a policy that stated that any student wearing an armband would be asked to remove it, with refusal to do so resulting in suspension. On December 16, the students wore their armbands to school and were sent home. The following day, another student did the same with the same result. The students did not return to school until after New Year’s Day, the planned end of the protest. The Supreme Court held that the armbands represented pure speech that is entirely separate from the actions or conduct of those participating in it.
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
In what became known as the “Pentagon Papers Case,” the Nixon Administration attempted to prevent the New York Times and Washington Post from publishing materials belonging to a classified Defense Department study regarding the history of United States activities in Vietnam. In its per curiam opinion the Court held that the government did not overcome the “heavy presumption against” prior restraint of the press in this case
New York Times Co. v. US (1971)
Members of the Old Order Amish religion, and Adin Yutzy, a member of the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church, were prosecuted under a Wisconsin law that required all children to attend public schools until age 16. The three parents refused to send their children to such schools after the eighth grade, arguing that high school attendance was contrary to their religious beliefs. The Court held that individual’s interests in the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment outweighed the State’s interests in compelling school attendance beyond the eighth grade.
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
The U.S. Attorney General rejected a North Carolina congressional reapportionment plan because the plan created only one black-majority district. North Carolina submitted a second plan creating two black-majority districts. One of these districts was, in parts, no wider than the interstate road along which it stretched. Five North Carolina residents challenged the constitutionality of this unusually shaped district, alleging that its only purpose was to secure the election of additional black representatives. The Court held that although North Carolina’s reapportionment plan was racially neutral on its face, the resulting district shape was bizarre enough to suggest that it constituted an effort to separate voters into different districts based on race.
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
a 12th grade high school student carried a concealed weapon into his San Antonio, Texas high school. He was charged under Texas law with firearm possession on school premises. The next day, the state charges were dismissed after federal agents charged Lopez with violating a federal criminal statute, the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. The possession of a gun in a local school zone is not an economic activity that might, through repetition elsewhere, have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. The majority opinion stated the law is a criminal statute that has nothing to do with “commerce” or any sort of economic activity.
US v. Lopez (1995)
Citizens United sought an injunction against the Federal Election Commission in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent the application of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) to its film Hillary: The Movie. The majority held that under the First Amendment corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)
Several suits were filed against Chicago and Oak Park in Illinois challenging their gun bans after the Supreme Court issued its opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller. In that case, the Supreme Court held that a District of Columbia handgun ban violated the Second Amendment. There, the Court reasoned that the law in question was enacted under the authority of the federal government and, thus, the Second Amendment was applicable. Here, plaintiffs argued that the Second Amendment should also apply to the states. The district court dismissed the suits. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed the Seventh Circuit, holding that the Fourteenth Amendment makes the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense applicable to the states.
McDonald v. Chicago (2010)
