Furman v. Georgia
The arbitrary application of the death penalty constituted cruel and unusual punishment; the decision leads to a moratorium on the death penalty until state legislatures rewrite their capital punishment statutes.
New Jersey v. T.L.O
School officials can search a student suspected of violation school policy; school administrators have greater latitude in conduction a search than police or similar authorities in order to maintain an environment where learning can take place.
Plessy v. Ferguson
The Supreme Court ruled that state laws enforcing segregation by race are constitutional if accommodations are equal as well as separate. Subsequently overturned by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
Korematsu v. United States
During World War II, Presidential Executive Order gave the military authority to exclude citizens of Japanese ancestry from areas deemed critical to national defense. A Japanese man remained in California and violated Civilian Exclusion Order. The Court s
Brown v. Board of Education
The "separate but equal" doctrine as it applies to public education is unconstitutional; separate schools are inherently unequal.
UCA v. Bakke
Setting up a rigid quota system for admission to medical school is prohibited, but race can be taken into account in the admissions process because the goal of a diverse student body is valid; reverse discrimination.
Grutter v. Bollinger
Allowed the use of race as a general factor in law school admissions at University of Michigan.
Gratz v. Bollinger
Struck down use of "bonus points" for race in undergrad admissions at University of Michigan.
Griswold v. Connecticut
Struck down a state law that made it a crime to provide contraceptive information to married couples based on a constitutionally protected right of privacy.
Roe v. Wade
Women have an absolute right to an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy based on a constitutionally protected right of privacy, the state can impose restrictions in the second and third trimesters.
Planned Parenthood v. Casey
States can regulate abortion as long as an "undue burden" is not placed on women. A 24-hour waiting period, counseling on alternatives to abortion, and parental consent for minors were constitutional restrictions on the right to an abortion.
Wallace v. Jaffree
A United States Supreme Court case deciding on the issue of silent school prayer. An Alabama law authorized teachers to conduct regular religious prayer services and activities in school classrooms during the school day. The Supreme Court ruled that the A
Westside comm. Schools v. Mergens
A case involving a school district's ability to hold classes on Bible study after school. The Supreme Court held that the club could hold their meetings, however their sponsor could not be paid; this would truly be an endorsement of religion.
SF indep. School district v. doe
Ruled that a policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at football games violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Employment division v. smith
The prohibition against the use of illegal drugs in religious ceremonies is not a violation of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. Religious observance is not a reason for a person not complying with a valid law.
Church of Lukuani v. Hialeah
the Supreme Court of the United States held unconstitutional an ordinance passed in Florida that forbade the "unnecessary" killing of "an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption.
Schenck v. United States
Freedom of speech is not absolute; the decision established the clear-and-present-danger test as a constitutional restriction of free speech; you cannot yell "fire" in a crowded theater.
New York times v. Sullivan
Public figures are bound by a higher standard in libel cases than ordinary citizens are; they not only have to show that what was printed was false, but that the media knew it was false and published it anyway showing complete disregard for the truth.
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
The wearing of armbands by students to protest the war in Vietnam is protected speech and cannot be prohibited by school officials; students do not give up their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door.
New York Times Co. v. US
The Supreme Court refused to prevent the publication of The Pentagon Papers, a classified documentary history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, on national security ground; prior restraint
Miller v. California
Outlines a test to define obscene materials that are not protected under the First Amendment. Community standards were includes as were LAPS-- a work is obscene if it has no literary, artistic, political, or scientific" value.
Texas v. Johnson
The burning of the American flag is symbolic speech and is protected under the First Amendment
Mapp v. Ohio
The High Court extended the federal exclusionary rule to the states; this rule prevented prosecutors from using illegally obtained evidence in a criminal trial.
Gideon v. Wainwright
The right to counsel is fundamental to a fair trial; the state must provide an attorney to poor defendants charged with a felony; the Sixth Amendment applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Miranda v. Arizona
be informed of the following: his or her constitutional rights to remain silent, that anything said can be used against him/her, that he/she has a right to have an attorney present during questioning, and to have an attorney appointed if he/she cannot aff
McCulloch v. Maryland
The issue was whether a state could tax a national bank. The ruling was a state does not have the right to tax a national bank.
Gibbons v. Ogden
two men find themselves competing with each other with their business of steamboat. Ruled the definition of the Congress' power to regulate commerce
Printz v. United States
A United States Supreme Court ruling that established the unconstitutionality of certain interim provisions of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act.
Buckley v. Valeo
Upheld the limits on individual contributions to political campaigns in federal election provided for in the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act, but declared unconstitutional the limits on expenditures as well as limits on what an indivi
Bush v. Gore
Use of 14th Amendment's equal protection clause to stop the Florida recount in the election of 2000.
Shaw v. Reno
The Supreme Court determined that race could not be the predominant factor in drawing congressional district lines just to ensure the election of an African American representative; the oddly shaped district of North Carolina was a racial gerrymander.
United States v. Nixon
Allowed for executive privilege but not in criminal cases; "Even the President in not above the law;
Marbury v. Madison
The decision established the principal of judicial review; the Supreme Court has the power to declare a law passed by Congress unconstitutional.
Dred Scott v. Sanford
African Americans were not citizens of the United States and have no right to sue; the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional; slaves were property and protected as such under the Constitution.
Gitlow v. New York
The First Amendment freedom of speech protection is incorporated/ applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment; incorporation doctrine.
Palko v. Connecticut
The Fifth Amendment right to protection against double jeopardy is not a fundamental right incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment to the individual states.
Everson v. Board of Education
A New Jersey law allowed reimbursements of money to parents who sent their children to school on buses operated by the public transportation system. Children who attended Catholic schools also qualified for this transportation subsidy. Ruled that the law
Lemon v. Kurtzman
When a law or state action involves religion, it must have a secular purpose; it cannot advance or inhibit religion, or excessively entangle the government with religion.
Lynch v. Donnelly
The issue at hand was whether the inclusion of a creche in the city's Christmas display violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The plaintiffs alleged that the display violated the Establishment Clause.T