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USA Criminal Justice Supreme Court Cases
USA Criminal Justice - Supreme Court Cases
25
Criminal Justice
Undergraduate 1
11/12/2012

Additional Criminal Justice Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Lochner v. New York
Definition
  • Bake shop Act New York labor law restricting bakery employees fm working > 60 hrs per week.
  • Lochner appealed conviction on grounds law violated his freedom to contract under the due process clause of 14th Amem=ndment
  • The court held there was no reasonable grounds for interfereing w/ the right of free contract by determining a baker's hours of labor. (No public health issues)

 

 

Term
Lawrence v. Texas
Definition
  • Houston police dispatched to residence in response to weapons charge. Police officers found Lawrence/Garner engaged in sexual act. Charged under deviate sexual intercourse (anal sex) with a member of the same sex (man).
  • Lawrence challenged the statute as violation of Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
  • Supreme Court: A statute making it a crime for two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct doe violate the due process clause.
Term
Goss v. Lopez
Definition
  • Students of city public school system were suspended from school without a hearing either before or shortly after the suspensions.
  • Did the Columbus Public School System violate the Appellee's due process rights when it suspended each without having a hearing?
  • Decision: Yes. Ohio may not withdrawl the right to an education on the grounds of misconduct absent fair procedures to determine if misconduct has occurred.
Term
New York Times v. Sullivan
Definition
  • Sullivan sued the New York Times for printing and advertisement about the civil rights movement in the south that defamed the Plantiff.
  • Is the defendant liable for defamation for printing an advertisement, which criticized a public official's official conduct?
  • No.Safeguards for freedom of speech and of the press required by the 1st and 14th amendments in a libel action brought by a public official against critics of his official conduct.
Term
Gibbons v. Oregon
Definition
  • Ogden assigned the right to navigate the waters between New York and certain ports in New Jersey. Ogden brought lawsuit seeking injunction to restrain Gibbons from operating steam ships on New York waters in violation of his exclusive privledge. Ogden granted injunction and Gibbeons appealed.
  • May a state enact legislation that regulates a purely internal affair regarding trade?
    Do states have the power to regulate those phases of interstate commerce which...?
    Do states have the power to grant an exclusive right to use state waterways inconsistent with federal law.
  • NO - No - No
Term
Bett v. Brady
Definition
  • Betts was indicted for robbery in Maryland Circuit Court.He was indignent and unable to retain a lawyer. When he requested the Court appoint an attorney - he was informed that it was not the practice of the Court to appoint counsel to indignant defendents. He defended himself and lost. he again asked for counsel.
  • Does the 14th amendment of the constitution demand that in every criminal case, whatever the circumstance, a state must furnish counsel to an indignent defendent?
  • NO- The 6th Amendment guarantees a right to counsel for federal trails. Howeverm the 14th amendment does not incorporate the specific guarantees found in the 6th amendment.
Term
Plessy v. Ferguson
Definition
  • Plessy attempt to sit in an all-white railroad car, after refusing to sit in the black railway car, He was arrested for violating the 1890 Louisiana statutes that provided for segregated "seperate but equal" railroad accomodations. He was found guilty on the ground that the law was a reasonable exercise of states police powers....
  • Can states constitutionally enact legislation requiring persons of different races to use "seperate but equal" segregated facilities?
  • Yes. States can.
Term
Brown v. Board of Education
Definition
  • Black school children sought admission to public schools that required or permitted segrgation based on race.
  • Is the race-based segregation of children into "seperate but equal" public schools constitutional?
  • No. The race based segregation of schildren into "seperate but equal" public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Term
Gideon v. Wainwright
Definition
  • Gideon charged in Florida state court w/Felony for breaking and entering, Ha lacked funds and was unable to retain a lawyer to prepare his defense. Court refused to provide counsel.
  • Did the courts failure to appoint counsel for Gideon violate his right to a fair trial and due process of the law as protected by the 6th and 14th amendments?
  • Yes - Right to Counsel. (In this case the Supreme overuled its 1942 decision Betts v. Brady).
Term
Adamson v. California
Definition
  • Adamson was convicted of 1st degree murder and sentenced to death. Adamson appealed, claiming that California's law which allowed the judge, counsel, and jury in his trial to comment on his failure to testify violated the U. S. Constitution's prohibition against self-incrimination.
  • Is the 5th amendment prohibition against compelled self-incrimination in Federal cases equally applicable to the states through due process clause of the 14th amendment?
  • NO. The 5th amendment prohibition is not incorporated into the due process clause of the 14th amendment.
Term
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Definition
  • A slave sought his freedom under the Missouri Compromise
  • Can a slave be considered a citizen and as such become entitled to all the rights, privledges, and immunities granted to citizens under the U.S. Constitution?
  • NO. Slaves were not citizens under the US Constitution.
Term
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Definition
  • Bakke, a white applicant to the university sued the university alleging his denial of admission on racial grounds was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment.(the university reserved 16 spots out of 100 in any given glass for disadvantaged students)
  • Is the special admissions program of the university constitutional?
  • The special admissions program is unconstitutional, but race may be considered as a factor in the admission process.
Term
United States v. Lopez
Definition
  • Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. Unlawful for any individual knowingly to posess a firearm at a place he knew or had reasonable cause to belivev was a school zone. Lopez, a 12th grade student, carried a concealed and loaded handgun into his high school and was arrested and charged.
  • Does the GFSZA exceed Congress' authority under the Commerce Clause? WHat categories of activity may congress regulate?
  • Yes. Lopez affirmed.The GFSZA exceeded Congress's authority.Interstate commerce.
Term

Escobedo v. Illinois

 

Definition
  • Danny Escobedo asked to speak with his lawyer while in police custody but before being formally charged and was denied.
  • If suspect has been taken into custody and interrogated by police without their request to see an attorney being honoredm nor being advised of their right to remain silent, have they been denied effective assistance of counsel under the 6th amendment?
  • Yes!
Term
Caperton v. A. T. Massey Coal Co.
Definition
  • Caperton sued Massey for tortious interference, fraudulent misrepresentation, and fradulent consealment. A state  trial court in est VA rendered judgement against Massey and found it liable for 50 million dmgs. Supreme Court of Appeals of W. VA granted review. Caperton motioned for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin to recuse himself due to Massey  donation of 3 million dollars to his campaign fund.
  • Did Justice Benjamin's failure to recuse himself from participation in a case where one of the parties donated to his election campaign violate due process clause of the 14th amendment?
  • Yes. the Justice should have recused himself.
Term
Golderg v. Kelly
Definition
  • Appellees were financial aid recipients whose benefits were terminated without being afforded a pre-determination hearing, which they challenged as being due process.
  • Does a State that terminates public assistance benefits to a particular recipient without affording him an opportunity  for an evidentiary hearing prior to termination deny the recipient due process?
  • Yes. Where Welfare is concerned, only a pre-determination hearing provides the recipient due process.
Term
Murray v. Curlett
Definition
  • State requirement of daily bible reading or the Lord's Prayer in schools.
  • Does the rule violate the establishment clause and violate the free exercise clause by discriminating against athesist?
  • Yes. The Supreme Court found that both bible reading and reciting the Lord's prayed violated the Establishment Clause and that religious practices in public schools were not allowed under the 1st amendment.
Term
Otis McDonald v. Chicago
Definition
  • Started with gun ban suits in which the Supreme Court helpd that the gun ban violated the 2nd Amendment. Here, Planiffs argued the 2nd Amendment should apply to states.
  • Does the 2nd Amendment apply to states because it is incorporated by the 14th Amendment's privledges and immunities or due process?
  • Yes. The 14th Amendment makes the 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense applicable to the states.
Term
Loving v. Virginia
Definition
  • Inter-racial marriage. VA charged the couple with violating the states antimiscegenation statute. 1 yr in jail or leave state for 25 yrs.
  • Did VA antimiscegenation law violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment?
  • Yes. Distinctions drawn according to race were generally "odious to a free people" and were subject to "the most rigid scrutiny" under the equal protection law.
Term
Arizona v. Fulminante
Definition
  • Confessions while in prision. Fulminante argues that his 2 confessions could not be used as evidence since the first was coherced and the 2nd based on the first.The court admitted the evidence, convicted him, and sentenced him to death. On appeal - the AZ Supreme Court ordered Fulminante to be retried without the use of the confessions.
  • Did AZ Supreme Court properly apply the totality of circumstances test when considering whether a suspects confession to murder was coerced? Did AZ Supreme Court properly apply harmless error analysis when considering whether the suspects coerced confession influenced the trial outcome?
  • Yes and Yes
Term
Tinker v. Des Moines School District
Definition
  • School children wore arm bands to protest the Vietnam War. When school officials asked the children to remove them, when they refused, they were suspended until after new years day.
  • Does a prohibition against wearing of armbands in public schools, as a form of symbolic protest, violate the First amendment's freedom of speech protections?
  • Yes. The wearing of armbands was closely akin to pure speech and protected by the 1st amendment.
Term
Snyder v. Phelps
Definition
  • Family of deceased Marine filed lawsuit against  members of church group that picketed the funeral.The family accused the church of defamation, invasion of privacy, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress.
  • Does the 1st Amendment protect protesters at a funeral from liability for intentionally inflicting emotional distress on the family of the deceased?
  • Yes. The 1st Amendment shields those who stage a protest at a funeral.
Term
Maryland v. Shatzer
Definition
  • Shatzer accused of sexually abusing his 3 yoa child. the 2nd time: Shaztzer was advised of his 5th Amendent rights, which he waived, then confessed to specific instances in which he committed the crime.
    Prior to trial Mr. Shatzer moved to supress the confessions he made in 2006 arguing that his 2003 invocation of his 5th Amendment rights was still applicable.
  • Is it unlawful to re-interrogate a suspect who had invoked his 5th amendment rights to counsel and to remain silent, after a substantial amount of time has elapsed between the invocation of rights and the subsequent interrogation?
  • No. The appropriate period of time for a person to be re-acclimated to normal life was 14 days.
Term
Bowers v. Hardwick
Definition
  • Hardwick observed by GA PD while engaging in act of consenual homosexual sodomy w/another adult while in the bedromm of his home.
  • Does the constitution confer a fundamental right upon homosexuals to engage in consenual sodomy, thereby invalidating the laws of many states which make such conduct illegal?
  • NO. The Supreme Court found that there was no constitutional protection for acts of sodomy and that states could outlaw those practices.
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