Term
| Marbury v. Madison (1819) |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Separation of Powers
Summary: Marbury and several others were appointed to government posts created by Congress in the last days of Adam's presidency, but the appointees were never fully finalized. The disgruntled appointees invoked an act of Congress and sued for their jobs in SC
Ruling: SC ruled that Madison was wrong to withhold the commissions and that the courts could issue writs to compel public officials to do their duty but that the SC could not in this case because the law giving it that power was unconstitutional (established judicial review) |
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| McCulloch v. Maryland (1803) |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Supremacy Clause/Necessary and Proper Clause
Summary: Maryland passed legislation to tax that Second BUS, which McCulloch refused to pay
Ruling: SC ruled that Congress had the power to incorporate the bank and that MD could not tax an enterprise created by the federal government. SC also ruled that Congress had non enumerated powers and that federal law is supreme |
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Term
| Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Federal Courts/jurisdiction
Summary: Dred Scott was a slave who resided in a free state for 10 yrs. After returning to Missouri, Scott claimed his residence in the free territory made him a free man and sued his master
Ruling: SC ruled that Negroes were not citizens and could not be, therefore the Missouri compromise which prohibited slavery was unconstitutional |
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Constitutional Issue: Separation of Powers
Summary: Baker and other TN citizens sued Car because TN had not redistricted since the 1901 census. Baker detailed how reapportionment efforts ignored significant economic growth and population shifts within the state
Ruling: SC ruled that the legislative apportionment was a justiciable issue. Justice Brennen also concluded that the 14th Amendment equal protection issues merited judicial evaluation |
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Constitutional Issue: Civil rights/reapportionment
Summary: NC submitted a congressional reapportionment plan creating two black majority districts, one that was no wider than the interstate it stretched along. NC residents challenged, claiming it was to secure election of African Americans
Ruling: SC ruled that the district exceeded what was reasonable to avoid racial imbalance. |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Executive Privilege
Summary: Following the watergate break-in, the special prosecutor issued a subpoena for Nixon's audiotapes. Nixon claimed he was immune due to executive privilege.
Ruling: SC ruled that neither the doctrine of separation of powers nor the need for confidentiality can sustain an absolute presidential privilege. SC ruled that there was limited privilege for military and diplomatic affairs. |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Separation of Powers
Summary: the case involved two separate challenges to the constitutionality of two cancellations made by Clinton under the Line-item veto act. The challenges came from NYC and Snake River's farmers' cooperative.
Ruling: Plaintiffs had standing, and SC ruled that the president must approve or veto entire bill and cannot amend laws by striking selected portions given that it violates the "finely wrought" legislative procedures. |
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Constitutional Issue: Free Exercise
Summary: Mormon George Reynolds challenged the federal anti-bigamy statute. Utah's courts convicted him
Ruling: SC ruled that the stature can punish criminal activity w/o regard to religious belief. The 1st Amendment does not protect religious practices that were judged to be criminal. |
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Constitutional Issue: Free Speech
Summary: Schenck mailed circulars to draftees which stated that the draft was a monstrous wrong and advised only peaceful action. He was charged with conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act by attempting to cause insubordination in the military and to obstruct recruitment
Ruling: SC ruled that he was not protected in this case because it caused clear and present danger. During wartime, utterances tolerable in peacetime can be punished. |
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Term
| Gitlow v. New York (1925) |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Free Speech
Summary: Gitlow was arrested for distributing copies of a left wing manifesto that called for the establishment of socialism through strikes and class action. He was convicted under a state criminal anarchy law, but Gitlow argued that there was no resulting action flowing from its publication
Ruling: the 1st amendment applies to the states but the state may forbid both speech and publication if they have a tendency to result in actions dangerous to public security-even without clear and present danger. |
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Constitutional Issue: Freedom of Press
Summary: Jay Near published a scandal sheet in Minneapolis, in which he attacked officials, claiming they were implicated with gangsters. Minnesota officials obtained an injunction to prevent Near from publishing his newspaper under a state law that allowed such action against periodicals. The law provided that any person "engaged in the business" of regularly publishing or circulating a defamatory newspaper or periodical was guilty of nuisance, and could be stopped from further committing the nuisance
Ruling: The Supreme Court held that the statute authorizing the injunction was unconstitutional as applied. History had shown that the protection against previous restraints was at the heart of the First Amendment. The Court held that the statutory scheme constituted a prior restraint and hence was invalid under the First Amendment. Thus the Court established as a constitutional principle the doctrine that, with some narrow exceptions, the government could not censor or prohibit a publication in advance, even though communication might be punishable after publication in a criminal proceeding.
Chief Justice: Hughes |
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Term
| Everson v. Board of Education (1942) |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Freedom of Religion
Summary: A New Jersey law allowed reimbursements of money to parents who sent their children to school (including a Catholic School) on buses operated by the public transportation system
Ruling: No. A divided Court held that the law did not violate the Constitution. After detailing the history and importance of the Establishment Clause, Justice Black argued that services like busing and police and fire protection for parochial schools are "separate and so indisputably marked off from the religious function" that for the state to provide them would not violate the First Amendment. The law did not pay money to parochial schools, nor did it support them directly in anyway. It was simply a law enacted as a "general program" to assist parents of all religions.
Chief Justice: Stone |
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Constitutional Issue: 1st Amendment
Summary: Alabama required the NAACP to reveal to the State's Attorney General the names and addresses of all the NAACP's members in the state.
Ruling: Yes. The unanimous Court held that a compelled disclosure of the NAACP's membership lists would have the effect of suppressing legal association among the group's members.
Chief Justice: Warren |
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Constitutional Issue: Freedom of/from Religion
Summary: The Board of Regents for the State of New York authorized a short, voluntary prayer for recitation at the start of each school day. This was an attempt to defuse the politically potent issue by taking it out of the hands of local communities.
Ruling: Yes. Neither the prayer's nondenominational character nor its voluntary character saves it from unconstitutionality. By providing the prayer, New York officially approved religion. This was the first in a series of cases in which the Court used the establishment clause to eliminate religious activities of all sorts, which had traditionally been a part of public ceremonies
Chief Justice: Warren |
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Term
| Abington v. Schempp (1963) |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Freedom of/from Religion
Summary: The Abington case concerns Bible-reading in Pennsylvania public schools. At the beginning of the school day, students who attended public schools in the state of Pennsylvania were required to read at least ten verses from the Bible. After completing these readings, school authorities required all Abington Township students to recite the Lord's Prayer.
Ruling: The Court found such a violation. The required activities encroached on both the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment since the readings and recitations were essentially religious ceremonies and were "intended by the State to be so."
Chief Justice: Warren |
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Term
| New York Times Company v. Sullivan (1964) |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Free Speech and Press
Summary: The case concerns an ad in the times which alleged that the arrest of Martin Luther King Jr for perjury in Alabama was part of a campaign to destroy King's efforts. Sullivan filed for a libel action against the newspaper claiming that the allegations against the Montgomery police defamed him personally. Under AL law, he did not have to prove he had been harmed
Ruling: 1st amendments protects publication of all statements, even false ones, against public officials unless that statements are made with actual malice. Sullivan's case collapsed. |
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Term
| Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Free Speech
Summary: Tinker among others protested that the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to their Des Moines schools; afraid that the armbands would provoke disturbances, the principals would resolved that all students wearing armbands remove them or be suspended
Ruling: Armbands were protected by 1st Amendment-school imply limitations on free expression, but the principals did not have justification for imposing limits. |
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Constitutional Issue: 1st Amendment-Establishment Clause
Summary: Case involves controversies over laws in PA and RI that made aid available to "church-related educational institutions"
Ruling: SC ruled that state must has a secular legislative process, it must neither advance nor inhibit religion, and it must not foster gov/religion entanglement. SC found that the subsidization of parochial schools furthered religious inculcation and would cause entanglement
Chief Justice: |
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Term
| New York Times v. US (1971) |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Freedom of Press
Summary: Nixon admin attempted to prevent times from publishing materials belonging to a classified Defense Dept study regarding US activities in Vietnam. President argued that restraint was necessary to protect national security
Ruling: SC ruled that 1st Amendment protected the New York Times' right to print said materials, restraint was unjustified since the publications would not imperil safety of American forces.
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Constitutional Issue: Freedom of speech and association
Summary: Congress attempted to end corruption in political campaigns by restricting financial contributions to candidates. The law limited the amount of $ an individual could contribute
Ruling: SC upheld the law which set limits on campaign contributions. Court also ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech so that a candidate can give unlimited amounts of money to their own campaigns.
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Constitutional Issue: Freedom of Speech
Summary: Johnson burned Am. flag as means to protect against Reagan administration policies. He was tried and convicted under TX law outlawing flag desecration.
Ruling: Flag burning was protected expression under the 1st Amendment. The fact that the audience takes offense to expression does not justify prohibitions of speech |
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Term
| Oregon (Employment Division) v. Smith (1990) |
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Constitutional Issue: free exercise of religion
Summary: Two native americans ingested peyote as part of their religious ceremonies. the rehabilitation organization they worked for fired them. They filed a claim for unemployment compensation but were denied b/c their dismissal was considered work related misconduct
Ruling: SC ruled that the court never held that an individuals religious beliefs excuse him from compliance w/ an otherwise valid law prohibiting conduct that the gov is free to regulate. |
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Constitutional Issue: Free Speech
Summary: Litigants challenged 1996 Communications Decency Act, which criminalized the intentional transmission of obscene or indecent messages as well as the transmission of info which depicts or decribes sexual or excretory activities or organs in a manner deemed offensive by community
Ruling: violated 1st Amendment b/c its regulations amounted to a content based blanket of restriction of free speech. Overall, the act was overly broad and vague. |
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| Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) |
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Constitutional Issue: Due Process
Summary: Gideon was charged in a Florida state court with a felony for breaking and entering. He lacked funds and was unable to hire a lawyer to prepare his defense. When he requested the court to appoint an attorney for him, the court refused, stating that it was only obligated to appoint counsel to indigent defendants in capital cases He was found guilty.
Ruling: In a unanimous opinion, the Court held that Gideon had a right to be represented by a court-appointed attorney and, in doing so, overruled its 1942 decision of Betts v. Brady. In this case the Court found that the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of counsel was a fundamental right, essential to a fair trial, which should be made applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Chief Justice: Warren |
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Term
| Miranda v. Arizona (1966) |
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Definition
Constitutional Issue: Rights of the Accused
Summary: The Court was called upon to consider the constitutionality of a number of instances, ruled on jointly, in which defendants were questioned "while in custody or otherwise deprived of [their] freedom in any significant way." In Vignera v. New York, Westover v. US and California v. Stewart, suspects were hold and questioned without being informed of their right to council and other rights.
Ruling: Court held that prosecutors could not use statements stemming from custodial interrogation of defendants unless they demonstrated the use of procedural safeguards "effective to secure the privilege against self-incrimination." The Court specifically outlined the necessary aspects of police warnings to suspects, including warnings of the right to remain silent and the right to have counsel present during interrogations.
Chief Justice: Warren |
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Constitutional Issue: Due Process
Summary: T.L.O. was a fourteen-year-old; she was accused of smoking in the girls' bathroom of her high school. A principal at the school questioned her and searched her purse, yielding a bag of marijuana and other drug paraphernalia.
Ruling: Citing the peculiarities associated with searches on school grounds, the Court abandoned its requirement that searches be conducted only when a "probable cause" exists that an individual has violated the law. The Court used a less strict standard of "reasonableness" to conclude that the search did not violate the Constitution. The presence of rolling papers in the purse gave rise to a reasonable suspicion.
Chief Justice: Burger |
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Constitutional Issue: Equal Protection
Summary: Florida Supreme Court ordered that all the county’s in Florida count the undervotes. Bush requested for the SC to review this decision.
Ruling: Equal Protection clause guarantees individuals that their ballots cannot be devalued by "later arbitrary and disparate treatment," the per curiam opinion held 7-2 that the Florida Supreme Court's scheme for recounting ballots was unconstitutional. Even if the recount was fair in theory, it was unfair in practice.
Chief Justice: Rehnquist |
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Term
| Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) |
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Constitutional Issue: Equal Protection
Summary: The state of Louisiana enacted a law that required separate railway cars for blacks and whites. In 1892, Homer Adolph Plessy--who was seven-eighths Caucasian--took a seat in a "whites only" car of a Louisiana train. He refused to move to the car reserved for blacks and was arrested.
Ruling: The state law is within constitutional boundaries. The majority, in an opinion authored by Justice Henry Billings Brown, upheld state-imposed racial segregation. The justices based their decision on the separate-but-equal doctrine, that separate facilities for blacks and whites satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment so long as they were equal
Chief Justice: Fuller |
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| Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) |
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| Griswald v. Connecticut (1965) |
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| Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) |
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| National Labor Relations Board v. Jones and Laughlin Steel (1937) |
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| Benton v. Maryland (1969) |
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| Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US (1964) |
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Constitutional Issue: Commerce Clause
Summary: Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbade racial discrimination by places of public accommodation if their operations affected commerce. The Heart of Atlanta Motel in Atlanta, Georgia, refused to accept Black Americans and was charged with violating Title II.
Ruling: The Court held that the Commerce Clause allowed Congress to regulate local incidents of commerce, and that the Civil Right Act of 1964 passed constitutional muster.
Chief Justice: Warren |
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Term
| United States v. Lopez (1995) |
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Constitutional Issue: Federalism
Summary: Alfonzo Lopez, a 12th grade high school student, carried a concealed weapon into his San Antonio, Texas high school. Federal agents charged Lopez with violating a federal criminal statute, the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. The act forbids "any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that [he] knows...is a school zone." Lopez was found guilty following a bench trial.
Ruling: The possession of a gun in a local school zone is not an economic activity that might, through repetition elsewhere, have a substantial effect on interstate commerce. The law is a criminal statute that has nothing to do with "commerce".
Chief Justice: Rehnquist |
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Constitutional Issue: Federalism-Gun Control
Summary: Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Bill) required "local chief law enforcement officers" (CLEOs) to perform background-checks on prospective handgun purchasers, until such time as the Attorney General establishes a federal system for this purpose. County sheriffs Jay Printz and Richard Mack, separately challenged the constitutionality of this interim provision of the Brady Bill on behalf of CLEOs in Montana and Arizona respectively.
Ruling: No. The Court constructed its opinion on the old principle that state legislatures are not subject to federal direction. The Court explained that while Congress may require the federal government to regulate commerce directly, in this case by performing background-checks on applicants for handgun ownership, the Necessary and Proper Clause does not empower it to compel state CLEOs to fulfill its federal tasks for it.
Chief Justice: Rehnquist |
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Constitutional Issue: Federalism
Summary: Hazel Morrison was indicted for distributing heroine and obtained private counsel for her defense. Without her counsel's knowledge two agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) conversed with her regarding a related investigation. The agents advised that she have a public defender represent her instead of her private counsel. Morrison. The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit found that Morrison's Sixth Amendment rights had been violated.
Ruling: Yes. Justice Byron White authored the opinion for the Court unanimously reversing the Third Circuit's decision. For sake of argument, the Court granted that Morrison's Sixth Amendment right to counsel had been violated, but held that this did not merit the dismissal of all charges since the conduct of the agents did not prejudice the outcome of the trial.
Chief Justice: Burger |
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| District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) |
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Constitutional Issue: 2nd Amendment-Gun Control
Summary: After the District of Columbia passed legislation barring the registration of handguns, requiring licenses for all pistols, and mandating that all legal firearms must be kept unloaded and disassembled or trigger locked, a group of private gun-owners brought suit claiming the laws violated their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Ruling: In a 5-4 decision, the Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.
Chief Justice: Roberts |
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