Important Court Cases

Question 1

Marbury v. Madison

Answer 1

Established the Supreme Court’s right of judicial review, the right to determine the constitutionality of laws.

Question 2

McCulloch v. Maryland

Answer 2

Said no state could tax a federally chartered bank because “the power to tax involves the power to destroy.” Ruling established the principle of national supremacy, that the Constitution and federal laws overrule state laws when the two conflict. Used the necessary and proper clause.

Question 3

Gibbons v. Ogden

Answer 3

States may only regulate what is solely intrastate commerce (within a state). The Congress has power to regulate interstate commerce. The boat one.

Question 4

Worcester v. Georgia

Answer 4

The Constitution gives the federal government, not state governments, exclusive jurisdiction over Native American nations. Georgia laws were voided as they could not take another nation’s land. Andrew Jackson defied the ruling of this court case.

Question 5

Dred Scott v. Sanford

Answer 5

Ruled that African Americans were not citizens (overturned by 14th Amendment). Declared slaves to be property of their owners. The Missouri Compromise was unconstituitonal

Question 6

Civil Rights Cases

Answer 6

Declared the 1875 Civil Rights Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in access to public accommodations and facilities, unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment prohibited states, not people, from discriminating. Private discrimination, such as in theaters, hotels, and restaurants, was not a violation of the 13th amendment.

Question 7

Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific R.R. v. Illinois

Answer 7

Invalidated state law setting railroad rates on the part of an interstate trip within state borders. The federal government has the power to regulate rates, this strengthened the interstate commerce clause.

Question 8

Plessy v. Ferguson

Answer 8

Upheld Louisiana law providing for “equal but separate accommodations for white and colored races.” Supported Jim Crow Laws. Said law did not conflict with the 13th and 14th amendment. Overturned in Brown v. Board of Education.

Question 9

Northern Securities Co. v. United States

Answer 9

Federal suit using Sherman Antitrust Act, which banned monopolies. Court ruled that the Northern Securities Company was formed only to eliminate competition and ordered it to be dissolved. Congress under commerce clause had authority to regulate any conspiracy to eliminate competition.

Question 10

Schenck v. United States

Answer 10

Established limits on free speech; right is not absolute but dependent on certain circumstances. Schenck was trying to stop the military; was charged with espionage.

Question 11

Korematsu v. United States

Answer 11

Upheld the power of the president in wartime to limit a group’s civil liberties. Ruled that the relocation of Japanese Americans was legal. Shown later to violate the 5th Amendment.

Question 12

Brown v. Board of Education

Answer 12

Segregation in educational facilities were banned. Overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Ruled that it violated the 14th Amendment.

Question 13

Mapp v. Ohio

Answer 13

Mapp was convicted of possessing obscene material. However the court ruled that the 4th and 14th amendment protected citizens from illegal searches.

Question 14

Engel v. Vitale

Answer 14

Reciting an official prayer in a school violated the 1st Amendment. Allowing students to leave room for praying did not make New York law constitutional.

Question 15

Gideon v. Wainwright

Answer 15

Gideon could not afford a lawyer and requested the court to appoint counsel in his defense. However, his request was refused because Florida law allowed courts to appoint counsel for indigent defendants only in death penalty cases. Ruled unanimously that the 6th Amendment showed a right to an attorney, which was applied to the states with the 14th amendment. States needed to provide lawyers for poor people accused of felony crimes.

Question 16

Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States

Answer 16

The Court held the government could prohibit the motel from discriminating on the basis of race under the Commerce Clause.

Question 17

Miranda v. Arizona

Answer 17

Those incriminated have to know their rights. They have the right to remain silent, the right to a lawyer, and that what they say can be used against them in court. Evidence obtained without this warning cannot be used.

Question 18

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

Answer 18

Students were protesting about the Vietnam War. The court ruled that neither students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the school gate. Symbolic, silent expression of opinion is protected under the 1st Amendment.

Question 19

Roe v. Wade

Answer 19

Making abortions illegal would be unconstitutional. Citing primarily the due process clause of the 14th Amendment which stated that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States

Question 20

New Jersey v. T.L.O.

Answer 20

Affirmed that the 4th Amendment applied to school officials. The necessity of maintaining discipline allowed for searches when there is suspicion that a student has broken the law.

Question 21

Scopes Trials (Tennessee v. Scopes)

Answer 21

Criminal action brought by the state of Tennessee against high school teacher John T. Scopes for violating the state’s Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in public schools. Scopes was found guilty. Anti-evolutionists claimed victory for forty-two years.

Question 22

Loving v. Virginia

Answer 22

Virginia didn’t allow interracial marriage. The court decided that laws against marriage violated the 14th Amendment.

Question 23

Sacco and Vanzetti

Answer 23

Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murder and armed robbery of a company. Anarchists believed that all authority shouldn’t be believed in. They seek to abolish all institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy. Court case was controversial because people thought they were convicted for being immigrants.

Question 24

Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, et al. v. Casey

Answer 24

Had reaffirmed the decision of Roe v. Wade (1973) prohibiting states from disallowing abortion prior to viability.