Individual Rights: Due Process Flashcards
Adamson v. California
Facts: Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder in California state court after his refusal to take the stand and testify was commented on by opposing trial counsel.
Holding: The 5th Amend. privilege against self-incrimination is not a part of the right to a fair trial protected by the Due Process clause of 14th Amend.
Lochner v. New York
Facts: A New York labor law required employees to work no more than sixty hours in one week.
Holding: The 1897 Labor Law limiting the hours that an employee in a biscuit, bread, or cake bakery or confectionery establishment may work is an abridgement to their liberty of contract and a violation of due process.
Nebbia v. New York
Facts: New York’s Milk Control Board’s price control regulation survived a Constitutional attack because it was not found to be arbitrary, discriminatory, or demonstrably irrelevant to the policy adopted by the legislature.
Holding: Price controls that are arbitrary, discriminatory, or demonstrably irrelevant to the policies of the legislature, are unconstitutional because they are unnecessary and unwarranted interferences with individual liberty.
United States v. Carolene Products Co.
Facts: Congress passed a law, which prohibited shipping milk containing any fat or oil other than milk fat in interstate commerce.
Holding: The Court upheld a federal prohibition on the interstate shipment of filled milk, because it is a decision that should be made by Congress, not by courts.
Griswold v. Connecticut
Facts: Appellants were charged with violating a statute preventing the distribution of advice to married couples regarding the prevention of conception. They claimed that the statute violated the 14th Amend. to the Constitution.
Holding: The right of a married couple to privacy is protected by the Constitution.
Eisenstadt v. Baird
Facts: Appellee was convicted for exhibiting and distributing contraceptive articles under a law that forbid single as opposed to married people from obtaining contraceptives.
Holding: Dissimilar treatment between married and unmarried persons is unconstitutional when the dissimilar treatment is unrelated to a rational State objective.
Roe v. Wade
Facts: Roe, a pregnant mother who wished to obtain an abortion, sued on behalf of all woman similarly situated in an effort to prevent the enforcement of Texas statutes criminalizing all abortions except those performed to save the life of the mother.
Holding: Statutes that make criminal all abortions except when medically advised for the purpose of saving the life of the mother are an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey
Facts: A Pennsylvania law imposed several obligations on women seeking abortions. The constitutionality of the law was brought into question.
Holding: A law is invalid, if its purpose or effect is to place a substantial obstacle (i.e., an “undue burden”) in the path of a woman seeking an abortion at a stage of her pregnancy before the fetus attains viability.
Michael H. v. Gerald D.
Facts: Carole had an adulterous affair with Michael while married to Gerald. A child was born while Carole and Gerald were together, but was likely Michael’s child. Michael and the child by guardian ad litem brought suit to establish paternity and a right to visitation.
Holding: The State has a legitimate interest in protecting the parental rights of a married couple having a child to the exclusion of the parental rights of a biological father.
Bowers v. Hardwick
Facts: A male homosexual was criminally charged for committing consensual sodomy with another male adult in the bedroom of his home.
Holding: There is no constitutional right to engage in consensual homosexual sodomy.
Lawrence v. Texas
Facts: Police found two men engaged in sexual conduct, in their home, and they were arrested under a Texas statute that prohibited such conduct between two men.
Holding: While homosexual conduct is not a fundamental right, intimate sexual relationships between consenting adults are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.
