Term
| Barron v. Baltimore (1833) |
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Definition
Incorporation
John Barron, a successful business owner in Baltimore sued the city for violating the fifth amendment which provides that the government may not take private property without just compensation.
The Supreme Court ruled, even before hearing the arguments of the city of Baltimore, that the bill of rights (fifth amendment) does not apply to states. |
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Term
| Gitlow v. New York (1925) |
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Definition
Incorporation
Gitlow, a socialist, distributed papers of a "left-wing manifesto" which called for establishment of socialism through strikes and class action.
Supreme Court created a threshold issue which let states may forbid both speech and publication if they have a dangerous tendency to the public security. |
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Term
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Definition
1st Amendment: Religion
The Board of Regents for the State of New York created a short prayer to school to say at the start of the day.
Supreme Court ruled that allowing a voluntary prayer acknowledges the approval of religion by NY state. There fore, it is unconstitutional. |
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Term
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Definition
1st Amendment: Religion
PA and RI had laws that provided financial support to teachers and school materials to schools that also extended to "church-related educational institutions."
Supreme Court decided that this violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. A statute must have "a secular legislative purpose," principal effects which doesn't advance or inhibit religion, and does not foster "an excessive government entanglement with religion" to be constitutional. |
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Term
| Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith (1990) |
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Definition
1st Amendment: Religion
Oregon drug law prohibited the consumption of illegal drugs for sacramental religious uses, this prohibition violated the free exercise clause. Two Native Americans ingested peyote for their religious ceremony at work. They were fired and denied workers compensation for their misconduct.
Supreme Court affirmed that a worker can be denied compensation for using drugs for religious purposes. Religious practices shouldn't contradict law. |
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Term
| Schenck v. United States (1919) |
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Definition
1st Amendment: Speech
Schenck violated the espionage act by causing insubordination to the military by mailing circulars to draftees which tells them to petition the Conspiration Act and fight the wrongdoing of the capitalist system.
During wartime, utterances tolerable in peacetime can be punished. And Schenck is wrong. |
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Term
| West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943) |
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Definition
1st Amendment: Speech
West Virginia Board of Education required salute to the flag in all public schools. Refusal to salute was punishable and this violated the first amendment.
The Court found that such a salute was a form of utterance and was a means of communicating ideas and asking kids to salute was unconstitutional. |
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Term
| Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) |
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Definition
1st Amendment: Speech
The Tinkers decided to support their parents disapproval of the Vietnam war by wearing black armbands to their Des Moines schools. Their schools banned the act of symbolic protest.
The act does not intefere with school and it is protected by the freedom of speech in the first amendment. |
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Term
| Miller v. California (1973) |
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Definition
1st Amendment: Speech
Miller used mass mailing to advertise "adult" material.
The Court held that obscene materials did not have First Amendment protection. |
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Term
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Definition
1st Amendment: Speech
Matthew Fraser, while speaking in a school assembly, used graphic sexual metaphors to promote the candidacy of his friend. The school punished the obscene, profane language or gestures.
The Court found it appropriate that the school prohibits the use of vulgar and offensive language and distinguished it from its Tinker v. Des Moines rule. |
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Term
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Definition
1st Amendment: Speech
In front of the Dallas City Hall, Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag as a means of protest against President Reagan's administration. He was convicted under a Texas law outlawing flag desecration.
In a 5-to-4 decision, the Court held that Johnson's burning of a flag was protected expression under the First Amendment because it is an expressive conduct with a political nature. |
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Term
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Definition
1st Amendment: Press
Jay Near published his periodical in Minneapolis and attacked local officials. Minnesota officials obtained an injunction on his periodicals by a law that states publishing "obscene" periodicals is a crime.
Supreme Court held that the law is unconstitutional and violates the first amendment. |
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Term
| New York Co. v. Sullivan (1964) |
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Definition
1st Amendment: Press
New York Times printed that the arrest of Martin Luther King, Jr. for perjury in Alabama was part of a campaign to destroy King's efforts to integrate public facilities. Sullivan, the city commissioner, filed that the publication defamed him personally.
The Court held that the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements, even false ones, about the conduct of public officials except when statements are made with actual bad intent. |
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Term
| New York Co. v. U.S. (1971) |
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Definition
1st Amendment: Press
In the "Pentagon Papers Case," the Nixon Administration attempted to prevent the New York Times from publishing materials belonging to a classified information.
Supreme Court found that the Nixon administration violated the first amendment. |
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Term
| District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) |
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Definition
2nd Amendment
D.C. passed legislation barring the registration of handguns, requiring licenses for all pistols, and asking that hand guns be kept unloaded. It stated to complaints that the 2nd amendment to bear arms applies to militias.
In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that the 2nd Amendment protects individuals rights to possess firearms unconnected with service in a militia. |
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Term
| McDonald v. Chicago (2010) |
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Definition
2nd Amendment
Many suits were filed against Chicago and Oak Park in Illinois challenging their gun bans after the Supreme Court issued its opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller.
The 2nd amendment is applicable to the states after it is incorporated by the 14th amendment. Supreme Court decided that it is a right to bear arms. |
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Term
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Definition
Due Process and Rights of the Accused
Dollree Mapp was convicted of possessing obscene materials after an admittedly illegal police search of her home for a fugitive.
The Court decided that evidence collected by searches and seizures should not appear at a state court, which the exclusionary rule. It is a violation of the 4th amendment. |
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Term
| Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) |
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Definition
Due Process and Rights of the Accused
Gideon was charged in a Florida state court with a felony for theft at a local bar. He was broke and could not afford a lawyer. The court refused to appoint him a counsel stating that the privilege is only in federal courts.
In a unanimous opinion, the Court held that Gideon had a right to be represented by a court-appointed attorney and overruled its 1942 decision of Betts v. Brady. The 6th amendment's guarantee of counsel was a fundamental right and it should be included by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. |
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Term
| Miranda v. Arizona (1966) |
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Definition
Due Process and Rights of the Accused
Three court cases- Vignera v. New York, Westover v. United States, and California v. Stewart- had cases arising from police officers questioning defendants without telling them their right to counsel.
The Court outlined the necessary aspects of police warnings to suspects, like warnings of the right to remain silent and the right to have counsel present during interrogations. |
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Term
| Furman v. Georgia (1972) and Gregg v. Georgia (1976) |
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Definition
Due Process and Rights of the Accused
Furman was committing theft in a household when a person discovered him. He fall when trying to escape; his gun went off and killed a resident in the home. Similarly, Gregg's armed robbery resulted in a murder. Both were given death penalty.
While the Court decided that cruel and unusual punishment of the 8th amendment is violated in Furman's case, it ruled that death penalty is not a violation of the 8th and 14th amendments in Gregg's case. In extreme criminal cases, death penalty may be used. |
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Term
| United States v. Leon (1984) |
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Definition
Due Process and Rights of the Accused
Leon was watched under police surveillance by the tip of an anonymous person. Police asked a judge for a search warrant of Leon's home due to suspicion from the surveillance and found illegal drugs. Yet, the exclusionary rule requires that evidence illegally acquired must be excluded from criminal trials.
The justices ruled that evidence seized by a mistakenly issued search warrant could be introduced at trial. The exclusionary rule is not a right but a way to control illegal police conduct. |
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Term
| New Jersey v. T.L.O (1985) |
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Definition
Due Process and Rights of the Accused
T.L.O. was 14 when she was accused of smoking in her school bathroom. A principal searched her pursue and found marijuana.
The Supreme Court decided that the search did not violate 4th and 14th amendments setting aside that searches are conducted if there is a "probable cause" and the person has broken the law. |
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Term
| Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) |
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Definition
Equal Protection: Minorities
Homer Adolph Plessy did not obey the state of Louisiana's law which required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. He was seven-eighths Caucasian-and took a "whites only" seat in a train and was arrested.
Supreme Court ruling upheld state-imposed racial segregation and said that it is not an infringement of both the privileges and immunities and the equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. |
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Term
| Korematsu v. United States (1944) |
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Definition
Equal Protection: Minorities
During World War II, Presidential Executive Order and congressional statutes gave the military authority to exclude citizens of Japanese ancestry from areas deemed critical to national defense. Korematsu disobeyed the order by staying in California.
The court ruled that protecting the U.S. outweighed Korematsu's rights. i.e. Congress and the president did not overuse their power to limit Japanese descendants. |
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Term
| Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) |
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Definition
Equal Protection: Minorities
Black kids were not allowed to attend white public schools even though the schools have equal in terms of supplies, buildings, teachers...
Since racial segregation creates a sense of inferiority in black kids, the court agreed 9-0 that the segregation violated the 14th amendment. |
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Term
| Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) |
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Definition
Equal Protection: Minorities
A white male, Allan Bakke applied twice for admission to the University of California at Davis and got rejected because of the "qualified" minorities had reserved seats as a part of the affirmative action of the University. Bakke argued that he was discriminated only on the basis of race.
The court split into 5 votes for Bakke and 4 against. So, the court helped Bakke but also extended affirmative action. |
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Term
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Definition
Equal Protection: Minorities
Two males involved in homosexual activity were arrested and fined under Texas law that prohibited same sex sexual acts.
In a 6-3 vote, the court ruled unconstitutional the Texas law that banned sexual acts between same sex couples. |
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Term
| Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) and Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) |
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Definition
Equal Protection: Minorities
Both cases are based on rejection from the University of Michigan which uses race as a factor to admit and balance diversity.
For Grutter, Supreme Court decided that Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amend. does not stop the university from choosing its students in highly individualized review of application.
As for Gratz, the Court decided that race based admission violates the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI. |
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Term
| Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) |
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Definition
Equal Protection: Privacy
Griswold was the Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut. She was convicted under CT law for counseling married couples about contraceptives and unwanted pregnancy.
Even though the right to privacy is not explicitly stated in the constitution, the Bill of rights and the amendments protect privacy in married couples. |
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Term
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Definition
Equal Protection: Privacy
Texas law prohibits abortion except to save the pregnant mother's life. Despite this, Roe wanted to abort her pregnancy.
Supreme Court ruled that women have control over choosing to abort during the first trimester of their pregnancy. The second and third trimesters can be manipulated by the state interest. |
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Term
| Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) |
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Definition
Equal Protection: Privacy
Pennsylvania's legislature passed a law requiring informed consent, a 24 hour waiting period, consent of one of the parent for a minor, and notification of the husband before abortion of pregnancy. Notifying husband was stuck down by the court of appeals, the others were kept. Yet, clinics and women were deeply unsatisfied by the violation of their right given under Roe v. Wade.
The Supreme Court upheld Roe v. Wade. It also created a standard that asks if a state abortion regulation imposes "undue burden" on the woman; this keeps all the provisions of the PA law except the husband notification. |
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Term
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Definition
Equal Protection: Elections
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, and Vice President Al Gore's claim for votes in Miami-Dade County, Florida created a tension in the result of 2000 election. Votes in all Florida counties were order to be recounted. Bush filed a request for review in the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the recount of votes because he Equal Protection clause guarantees citizens that their ballots cannot be reevaluated by "later arbitrary and disparate treatment." |
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