Key Court Cases

Question 1

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Answer 1

Established judicial review; “midnight judges;” John Marshall; power of the Supreme Court.

Question 2

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Answer 2

Established national supremacy; established implied powers; use of elastic clause; state unable to tax fed. Institution; John Marshall; “the power to tax involves the power to destroy.”

Question 3

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Answer 3

Established separate but equal.

Question 4

Schenck V. U.S. (1919)

Answer 4

Oliver Wendell Holmes; clear and present danger test; shouting “fire” in a crowded theater; limits on speech, esp. in wartime.

Question 5

Gitlow v. New York (1925)

Answer 5

Established precedent of federalizing Bill of Rights (applying them to the states); states cannot deny freedom of speech -–protected through due process clause of Amendment 14

Question 6

Palko v. Connecticut (1937)

Answer 6

Provided test for determining which parts of Bill of Rights should be federalized – those which are implicitly or explicitly necessary for liberty to exist.

Question 7

Brown v. Board, 1st (1954)

Answer 7

School segregation unconstitutional; segregation psychologically damaging to blacks; overturned separate but equal; use of 14th Amendment; judicial activism of Warren Court; unanimous decision.

Question 8

Brown v. Board, 2nd (1955)

Answer 8

Ordered schools to desegregate “with all due and deliberate speed.”

Question 9

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Answer 9

Established exclusionary rule; illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court; Warren Court’s judicial activism

Question 10

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

Answer 10

Prohibited state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public schools by virtue of Amendment One’s establishment clause and the 14th Amendment’s due process clause; Warren Court’s judicial activism.

Question 11

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Answer 11

“One man, one vote.” Ordered state legislative districts to be as near equal as possible in population; Warren Court’s political judicial activism.

Question 12

Abbington v. Schempp (1963)

Answer 12

Prohibited devotional Bible reading in public schools by virtue of establishment clause and due process clause. Warren Court’s judicial activism.

Question 13

Gideon v. Wainright (1963)

Answer 13

Ordered states to provide lawyers for those unable to afford them in criminal proceedings. Warren Court’s judicial activism in criminal rights.

Question 14

Wesberry v. Sanders (1963)

Answer 14

Ordered House districts to be as near equal in population as possible.

Question 15

Griswald v. Connecticut (1965)

Answer 15

Established right of privacy through 4th and 9th Amendments. Set a precedent for Roe v. Wade.

Question 16

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Answer 16

Established Miranda warnings of counsel and silence. Must be given before questioning. Warren Court’s judicial activism in criminal rights.

Question 17

Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

Answer 17

Allowed states to provide textbooks and busing to students attending private religious schools. Established 3-part test to determine if establishment clause is violated: nonsecular purpose, advances/inhibits religion, excessive entanglement with government.

Question 18

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Answer 18

Established national abortion guidelines; trimester guidelines: no state interference in 1st, state may regulate to protect health of mother in 2nd, state may regulate to protect health of unborn child in 3rd. Inferred from right of privacy estab. in Griswald v. Conn.

Question 19

U.S. v. Nixon (1974)

Answer 19

Allowed for executive privilege, but not in criminal cases; “Even the President is not above the law;” Watergate.

Question 20

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

Answer 20

1st Amendment protects campaign spending; legislatures can limit contributions, but not how much one spends of his own money on campaigns.

Question 21

U.C. Regents v. Bakke (1978)

Answer 21

Alan Bakke and UC Davis Medical School; strict quotas unconst., but states may allow race to be taken into account as ONE factor in admissions decisions. Bakke admitted.

Question 22

Webster v. Reproductive 
Health Services (1987)

Answer 22

More leeway for states in regulating abortion, though no overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Question 23

Texas v. Johnson (1989)

Answer 23

Struck down Texas law that banned flag burning, which is a protected form of symbolic speech.

Question 24

Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith (1990)

Answer 24

States could deny unemployment benefits to a person fired for violating a state prohibition on the use of peyote even though the use of the drug was part of a religious ritual.

Question 25

Planned Parenthood v.

Casey (1992)

Answer 25

States can regulate abortion, but not with regulations that impose “undue burden” upon women; did not overturn Roe v. Wade, but gave states more leeway in regulating abortion (e.g., 24-hour waiting period, parental consent for minors)

Question 26

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

Answer 26

No racial gerrymandering; race cannot be the sole or predominant factor in redrawing legislative boundaries; majority-minority districts.

Question 27

U.S. v. Lopez (1995)

Answer 27

Gun Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress’ authority to regulate interstate commerce.

Question 28

Clinton v. NY (1998)

Answer 28

Banned presidential use of line item veto

Question 29

Bush v. Gore (2000)

Answer 29

Use of 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause to stop the Florida recount in the election of 2000.

Question 30

Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (02)

Answer 30

Public money can be used to send disadvantaged children to religious schools in tuition voucher programs.

Question 31

Ashcroft v. ACLU (2002)

Answer 31

Struck down a federal ban on “virtual” child pornography

Question 32

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Answer 32

Using right of privacy, struck down Texas law banning sodomy.

Question 33

Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)

Answer 33

Struck down use of “bonus points” for race in undergrad admissions at University of Michigan.

Question 34

Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)

Answer 34

Allowed the use of race as a general factor in law school admissions at University of Michigan.

Question 35

Kelo v. City of New London (’05)

Answer 35

Eminent domain case: Local governments may force the sale of private property and make way for private economic development when officials decide it would benefit the public.

Question 36

Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)

Answer 36

Upheld Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.

Question 37

DC v. Heller (2008)

Answer 37

Struck down a Washington DC ordinance that banned handguns