required court cases

Question 1

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Answer 1

• state of Maryland passed legislation to impose taxes on the bank, James W. McCulloch (cashier of Baltimore branch of bank) refused to pay
• supreme court ruled that necessary and proper clause implied certain powers given to the federal government even if they were not explicitly mentioned in the constitution
• court argued that supremacy clause in the constitution meant that where the two conflicted, federal law trumps state law
• federal bank

Question 2

United States V. Lopez (1995)

Answer 2

• congress had used the commerce clause to ban guns on school property, the court decided that carrying guns to school is in no way related to interstate commerce
• supreme court ruled that congress had overstepped its bounds into state authority, thus providing a win for state power
• Alfonzo Lopez carried a concealed weapon into his San Antonio, Texas high school
• The Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 prohibited people from knowingly carrying a gun in a school zone
• interstate commerce clause (article 1)
• “to claim that any kind of activity is commerce means that the power of congress would be unlimited” which contradicts limited government

Question 3

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Answer 3

• William Marbury appointed justice of the peace in the final hours of Adams administration
• James Madison, Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of state, refused to deliver Marbury’s commission
• Marbury petitioned for mandamus (power granted to the court) that would force delivery of his commission
• courts ruled that Marbury was entitled to his commission but that the Constitution did not give the Supreme Court power to issue mandamus requiring the delivery of them
• judicial review

Question 4

Schenck v. United States (1919 - World War 1)

Answer 4

• Schenck mailed circulars that suggested that the draft was monstrous motivated by capitalism, circulars urged “Do not submit to intimidation” but only encouraged peacful action
• Schenck charged with conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act by attempting to cause insubordination and obstruct military recruitment
• Freedom of speech (1st amendment)
• court upheld Espionage Act and Schenck’s conviction
• in the context of of the U.S effort to mobilize for entry into WW1, the Espionage Act’s criminalization of speech was acceptable
• courts argued that the constitution does not protect efforts to induce the criminal act of resisting draft during war

Question 5

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)

Answer 5

• black children denied admission to public schools attended by white children under segregation laws
• white and black schools approached equality in terms of buildings, curricula, qualifications, and salaries
• equal protection clause under 14th amendment
• unanimous opinion of the court, ruling that segregation in public schools violates 14th amendment equal protection clause
• separating children based solely on race created a feeling of inferiority , perpetuated the idea that African-American children held a lower status in the community

Question 6

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

Answer 6

• board of regents in New York authorized a short, voluntary prayer at the start of each school day
• establishment clause (1st amendment & incorporated to states through 14th amendment)
• NY’s prayer was struck down as a violation of establishment clause
• the prayer was religious activity composed by government officials and used as part of a government program to advance religious beliefs
• “…this very practice of establishing governmentally composed prayers for religious services was one of the reasons which caused many of our early colonists to leave England and seek religious freedom in America.”

Question 7

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Answer 7

• charles baker alleged that the state constitution required revising the legislative district lines every 10 years to account for changes, but lawmakers ignored that requirement and refused to redraw districts
• detailed how Tennessee’s reapportionment efforts ignored significant population shifts, Tennessee was still using boundaries that had been determined by the 1900 census
• equal protection clause under 14th amendment
• court concluded that federal courts have the authority to enforce requirement of equal protection of the law against state officials
• “one person, one vote” rule for redistricting was made by the court 2 years later

Question 8

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Answer 8

• florida state court charged Clarence Gideon for breaking and entering a pool hall
• he lacked funds and was unable to hire a lawyer
• he requested the court appoint an attorney to him, but the refused stating that Florida Law the court is only obligated to appoint counsel to indigent defendants in capital (death penalty) cases
• Gideon defended himself, was convicted by jury
• right to counsel 6th amendment
• Gideon won unanimous victory in SCOTUS, supreme court overturned Betts v. Brady where it had been concluded that the 6th amendment guarantee of counsel was not a fundamental right
• the court found that the 6th amendment guarantee of counsel was a fundamental right, essential to a fair trial, and should be made applicable to the states through the due process clause of 14th amendment

Question 9

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

Answer 9

• in Des Moines, Iowa, five students (age 13-16) showed opposition to the Vietnam war by planning to wear two inch wide black armbands to school for 2 weeks
• they were sent home for violating an announced ban on black armbands and told not to return until they agreed not to wear them
• John & Mary Beth Tinker’s parents filed
• freedom of speech 1st amendment
• SCOTUS ruled in favor of Tinkers 7-2
• students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech at the schoolhouse gate”
• SCOTUS said wearing armbands was a form of symbolic speech because the act was intended to express political dissent about Vietnam War

Question 10

New York Times v. United States (1971)

Answer 10

• Daniel Ellsberg illegally copied over 7,000 pages of classified reports kept at a research institution where he worked (pentagon papers)
• documents contained intimate details about decision-making plans behind U.S’s intervention in the Vietnam conflict, as well as contradictions of President Lyndon Johnson’s motivations in southeast asia and public remarks
• some documents leaked to New York Times, President Nixon directed his attorney to order the Times to stop claiming the publication would cause “irreparable injury to the defense interests of the U.S”
• The Times refused and the U.S government sued for violating the espionage act
• first amendment freedom of the press
• SCOTUS ruled 6-3 in favor of the newspapers
• SCOTUS argued that executive branch does not have inherent power to protect national security
• publication would not cause inevitable, direct, and immediate event imperiling the safety of American forces

Question 11

Wisconsin v. Yoder

Answer 11

• Wisconsin convicted 3 Amish members for violating the state’s compulsory education law which requires attendance at school until the age of 16
• Frieda Yoder and 2 other students stopped attending, the Amish believed that the exposure to higher learning and removal from religious practices would endanger continuation of Amish community
• free exercise clause - first amendment
• SCOTUS held that free exercise clause prevented Wisconsin from compelling respondents to send their children to formal secondary school beyond 8th grade
• SCOTUS ruled that the families’ religious beliefs and practices outweighed state’s interest in making the children attend school beyond 8th grade

Question 12

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Answer 12

• Roe, texas resident, sought to terminate her pregnancy by abortion
• Texas law prohibited abortions except to save the women’s life
• the right to privacy implied several amendments
• majority of SCOTUS rooted a women’s right to decide whether to have an abortion in the Due Process Clause which prohibits states from depriving any persons of liberty without due process of law
• decision set up trimester approach that gave a woman total autonomy over pregnancy during first trimester, and defined different levels of state interest for regulating abortions in the second and third

Question 13

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

Answer 13

• U.S attorney district general rejected a NC congressional reapportionment plan because the plan created only one black-majority district
• submitted a 2nd plan creating 2 black-majority districts
• 5 NC residents challenged the constitutionality of this unusually shaped district was racially discriminatory, alleging only purpose was to secure election of additional black representatives
• equal protection clause 14th amendment
• 5-4 decision, SCOTUS ruled against race-motivated redistricting
• majority said that classifications of citizens predominantly on the basis of race are undesirable in a free society

Question 14

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

Answer 14

• Citizens United sought to prevent the application of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) to its film Hillary: the movie
• the movie expressed opinions about if Hillary Clinton would make a good president
• BCRA applied a variety of restrictions to the timing of “electioneering communications”
• FEC said that the movie was intended to influence voters and that BCRA applied
• freedom of speech first amendment
• SCOTUS 5-4 that the first amendment prohibits limits on corporate funding of independent expenditures on broadcasts or ads in federal elections
• court said that corporations have free speech equal to that of individual citizens
• justices said that the government’s rationale for the limits on corporate spending (to prevent corruption) was not persuasive enough to restrict political speech

Question 15

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

Answer 15

• in 1982, Chicago adopted a handgun ban to combat crime and handgun related deaths/injuries
• in 2008, after the court decided Heller and said that the 2nd amendment includes an individual’s right to keep and bear arms, McDonald and others sued
• right to bear arms 2nd amendment
• SCOTUS held that 14th amendment makes the 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense
• courts determined that framers of and those who ratified 14th amendment considered right to keep and bear arms a fundamental right
• they said that self-defense is a basic right