Individual Rights

Question 1

City of Boerne v. Flores

Answer 1

[Limitations on the State]

Congress may not expand substantive First Amendment rights beyond those recognized by the Supreme Court.

Question 2

Lee v. Weisman

Answer 2

[Establishment Clause - Coercion]

Nondenominational prayer led by a cleric at graduation ceremonies promoted religion.

Question 3

Lemon v. Kurtzman

Answer 3

[Establishment Clause - Standard]
Governmental action valid if
i) It has a secular purpose;
ii) Its principle and primary effect neither advances nor inhibits religion; and
iii) It does not result in excessive government entanglement with religion.

Question 4

Zelman v. Simmons-Harris

Answer 4

[Establishment Clause - School Vouchers]
Giving parents tuition vouchers to assist them in paying religious school tuition does not violate clause if vouchers may also be used at non-religious private schools.

Question 5

Wallace v. Jaffree

Answer 5

[Establishment Clause - School Prayer]

A designated period of silence for “meditation or voluntary prayer” promoted religion.

Question 6

Wisconsin v. Yoder

Answer 6

[Free Exercise - Targeting religious conduct]

Compulsory school attendance struck down.

Question 7

United States v. Ballard

Answer 7

[Free Exercise - Religious Belief]
The government may not determine the reasonableness of a belief, although it may determine the sincerity of the person asserting the belief.

Question 8

Sherbert v. Verner

Answer 8

[Free Exercise - Targeting religious conduct]

Law struck down that required work on day of Sabbath.

Question 9

Employment Division v. Smith

Answer 9

[Free Exercise - Neutral, Generally Applicable]
No religious exemption required from neutral regulations even though certain groups objected because the regulation interfered with religious conduct (peyote use)

Question 10

Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC

Answer 10

[Ministerial Exception]

Exception to discrimination laws in a decision to discharge a minister from employment.

Question 11

Shelly v. Kraemer

Answer 11

[State Involvement]

Enforcement of restrictive covenants constitutes state action even in civil proceeding between private parties.

Question 12

NCAA v. Tarkanian

Answer 12

[State Involvement - Entwinement with Private]

Coach could not successfully sue NCAA because there was no state action.

Question 13

Board of Regents v. Roth

Answer 13

[Due Process - Property]

A property interest involves more than an abstract need or desire; there must be a legitimate claim of entitlement.

Question 14

Goldberg v. Kelly

Answer 14

[Procedural Due Process]

A state must give notice and hold a hearing PRIOR to terminating welfare benefits.

Question 15

Matthews v. Eldridge

Answer 15

[Procedural Due Process]
A state must give prior notice but only a post-termination evidentiary hearing to terminate disability benefits or public employment

Question 16

New York Times Co. v. United States

Answer 16

[First Amendment - Prior Restraint]

Prior restraints have been rejected even when national security was at issue.

Question 17

International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee

Answer 17

[Speech - No Viewpoint/Content Discrimination]
Airport terminals are not public terminals, thus it is reasonable to ban solicitation within airport terminals since it presents a risk of fraud of hurrying passengers.

Question 18

Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp v. Public Service Commission of New York

Answer 18

[Commercial Speech]
Restrictions of lawful, truthful commercial speech require factors:
i) Asserted government interest must be substantial;
ii) Regulation must directly advance the asserted interest;
iii) regulation must be narrowly tailored (“reasonable fit”)

Question 19

United States v. O’Brien

Answer 19

[Conduct - Draft Card]
Prohibition against burning draft cards upheld as furthering the important governmental interest in a smoothly functioning draft system.

Question 20

Garcetti v. Ceballos

Answer 20

[Speech by Government Employees]
Speech on matters of public concern made in furtherance of the public employee’s job functions receives less protection than speech made by a person acting outside of his job.

Question 21

Van Orden v. Perry

Answer 21

[Government Speech]

Monuments in park are government speech. When the government is a speaker it may engage in content-based choices.

Question 22

Grutter v. Bollinger

Answer 22

[Equal Protection - Diversity in Schools]

The use of racial quotas or of race as a determinative criterion violates equal protection and is unconstitutional.

Question 23

United States v. Virginia

Answer 23

[Equal Protection - Gender]
Gender receives intermediate scrutiny. Burden on state to show that a regulation that treats gender differently is substantially related to an important governmental interest.

Question 24

Romer v. Evans

Answer 24

[Equal Protection - Sexual Orientation]
Sexual orientation is not a suspect or quasi-suspect class.  Government cannot impose a burden or deny a benefit on a group because of animosity toward the class that it affects.

Question 25

Pierce v. Society of Sisters

Answer 25

[Equal Protection - Parental Rights]
The fundamental right to make decisions regarding care, custody and control of one’s children includes the right to privately educate one’s child outside the public school

Question 26

Troxel v. Granville

Answer 26

[Equal Protection - Parental rights]

The fundamental right to make decisions regarding one’s children includes the right to limit visitation of grandparents.

Question 27

Griswold v. Connecticut

Answer 27

[Contraceptives]
The court has indicated that there is a “marital zone of privacy” so it will grant broader protections to private relations between married persons than non married persons.

Question 28

Roe v. Wade

Answer 28

[Abortion]

The right of privacy includes the right of a woman to have an abortion under certain circumstances.

Question 29

Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey

Answer 29

[Ninth Amendment (Privacy) - Abortion]
Undue burden exists when the purpose or effect of a state law places substantial obstacles in the way of a woman’s right to seek an abortion before the fetus attains viability.

Question 30

Gonzales v. Carhart

Answer 30

[Ninth Amendment (Privacy) - Abortion]

An undue burden was not created when banning partial birth abortions.

Question 31

Lawrence v. Texas

Answer 31

[Ninth Amendment (Privacy) - Intimate Sexual Behavior]
There is no legitimate set interest in making it a crime for fully consenting adults to engage in private sexual conduct - including homosexual conduct - that is not commercial in nature.