SCOTUS Cases

Question 1

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Answer 1

Established the principle of judicial review; strengthened power of judicial branch by giving Supreme Court the power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional

Question 2

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Answer 2

Confirmed the right of Congress to use implied powers to carry out its expressed powers; validated supremacy of national government over states (states cannot interfere with or tax legitimate activities of the federal govt.

Question 3

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

Answer 3

Strengthened the power of the federal government to regulate interstate commerce; established role of commerce clause as vehicle for expansion of federal power

Question 4

Engel v. Vitale

Answer 4

Struck down state-sponsored prayer in public schools; ruled that the Regents’ prayer was unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause

Question 5

Lemon v. Kurtzman

Answer 5

Struck down state-sponsored funding for private religious schools
Rule that state aid to church-related schools must meet three tests: (a) the purpose of the aid must be clearly secular, (b) the government’s action must neither advance nor inhibit religion, and (c) the government’s action must not foster and “excessive entanglement” between govt. and religion

Question 6

Reynolds v. US (1879)

Answer 6

Banned polygamy; Distinguished between religious beliefs that are protected by the Free Exercise Clause and religious practices that may be restricted; Ruled that religious practices cannot make an act legal that would otherwise be illegal

Question 7

Oregon v. Smith (1990)

Answer 7

Banned the use of illegal drugs in religious ceremonies; Ruled that the govt. can act when religious practices violate criminal laws

Question 8

Schenck v. US (1919)

Answer 8

Ruled that free speech could be limited when it presents a “clear and present danger”

Question 9

New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)

Answer 9

Ruled that public officials cannot win a suit for defamation unless the statement is made with “actual malice”

Question 10

Roth v. US (1951)

Answer 10

Ruled that obscenity is not constitutionally protected free speech

Question 11

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District (1969)

Answer 11

Protected some forms of symbolic speech; ruled that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate”

Question 12

Texas v. Johnson (1989)

Answer 12

Ruled that flag burning is a form of symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment

Question 13

Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

Answer 13

Ruled that the Bill of Rights cannot be applied to the states

Question 14

Gitlow v. New York (1925)

Answer 14

Established precedent for the doctrine of selective incorporation, thus extending most of the requirements of the Bill of Rights to the states

Question 15

Weeks v. US (1914)

Answer 15

Established the exclusionary rule in federal cases; prohibited evidence obtained by illegal searches and seizures from being admitted in court

Question 16

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Answer 16

Extended the exclusionary rule to the states; illustrated the process of selective incorporation through the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment

Question 17

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Answer 17

Ruled that the 6th Amendment right-to-counsel provision applies to those accused of major crimes under state laws; illustrated the process of incorporation

Question 18

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Answer 18

Ruled that the police must inform criminal suspects of their constitutional rights before questioning suspects after arrest; required police to read the Miranda rules to criminal suspects

Question 19

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Answer 19

Ruled that African Americans were not citizens and therefore could not petition the Supreme Court; overturned by 14th Amendment

Question 20

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Answer 20

Upheld Jim Crow segregation by approving “separate but equal” public facilities for African Americans

Question 21

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Answer 21

Ruled that racially segregated schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment; reverse “separate but equal” principle

Question 22

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)

Answer 22

Ruled that UC Davis medical school’s strict quota system denied Bakke the equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment but ruled that race could be used as a factor among others in the competition for available places

Question 23

Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)

Answer 23

Upheld the affirmative action policy of the University of Michigan Law School (upheld Bakke ruling)

Question 24

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Answer 24

Ruled that Connecticut law criminalizing the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy

Question 25

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Answer 25

Ruled that the decision to obtain an abortion is protected by the right to privacy implied in the Bill of Rights

Question 26

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Answer 26

Ruled that the judicial branch can rule on matters of legislative apportionment; used the principle of “one person, one vote” and ordered state legislative districts to be as equal as possible

Question 27

Wesberry v. Sanders (1963)

Answer 27

Established the principle of “one person, one vote” in drawing congressional districts

Question 28

Korematsu v. US (1944)

Answer 28

Upheld the constitutionality of the relocation of Japanese Americans as a wartime necessity; viewed by contemporary scholars as a flagrant violation of civil liberties

Question 29

US V. Nixon (1974)

Answer 29

Ruled that there is no constitutional guarantee of unqualified executive privilege

Question 30

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

Answer 30

Upheld federal limits on campaign contributions but struck down limit on the amount of money individuals could contribute to their own campaign (it’s a form of free speech)