Term
| Gitlow v. New York (1925) |
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Definition
H: upheld Gitlow's conviction for violating the state criminal anarchy act.
Sig: Incorporated the first amendment's freedom of speech and press |
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Term
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Definition
F: Communist Party member had been convicted of making a political speech
H: unanimously overturned his conviction
Sig: Freedom of peaceable assembly is incorporated |
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Term
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Definition
F: Member of the KKK convicted saying potentially dangerous threats against the government.
H: Invalidated the Ohio Criminal Syndicalism Act and overturned his conviction.
Sig: Established the "incitement" standard: the government has to prove the danger of the words. |
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Term
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Definition
| A state may not limit speech unless it is (1) directed to incite imminent lawless action, and (2) likely to produce such action. |
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Term
| West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943) |
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Definition
F: Jehovah's witness students refuse to stand and salute the flag. During WWII, the peak of patriotism.
H: Court upheld the students' right to refuse to salute the flag. |
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Term
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Definition
F: O'Brien is given his draft card; it is illegal to destroy it. He lights it on fire in symbolic speech.
H: Upheld conviction for burning card
R: the law exists for a reason entire different than to suppress free speech. The government needs the card because the information on it is important.
Sig: Established the O'Brien test. |
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Term
| Tinker v. Des Moines ISD (1969) |
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Definition
F: Students wear black arm bands to school, signifying their opposition to the war.
H: Students cannot be suspended for wearing the protest bands.
R: Students and teachers do not have to "shed their constitutional rights...at the schoolhouse gate." |
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Term
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Definition
F: Cohen wears a jacket with "fuck the draft" written on the back.
H: Overturns his conviction.
R: His expression was not aimed at any individual, nor was it intended to create a disturbance. |
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Term
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Definition
F: Johnson burned American flags.
H: Reversed his conviction and overturned TX law.
R: State's interest was not compelling enough to justify the restriction. No breach of peace occurred, and it undermines the first amdt. |
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Term
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Definition
There was enough national consensus (48 states) to prohibit flag burning.
Challenged in US v. Eichman: H: it violates the first amdt
Congress tries three times to pass an amendment banning flag burning. |
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Term
| Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc. (1991) |
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Definition
F: City prohibits full-body nudity in strip joints in order to protect the moral climate of the community.
H: Upheld the law.
R: passed the 4-part O'Brien test: protecting the moral climate of the community is in the gvnt's interest. |
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Term
| City of Erie v. Pap's A.M. (2000) |
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Definition
F: Prohibited full-body nudity because it comes with certain criminal activity.
H: upheld the law.
R: It is in the gvnt's intererst to combat "negative secondary effects" associated with nude dancing. |
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Term
| Hurley v. Irish-American GLIB of Boston (1995) |
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Definition
F: Veterans would not allow members of the Gay Lesbian Irish-American Bi group to participate in their private parade, as they did not believe in the same things.
H: Vets ahve the first amdt right to shape the message of their parade, and they can exclude and include members as they desire. |
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Term
| Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000) |
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Definition
F: Dale, a gay rights activist, had a son in Boys Scouts, and wanted to participate as a leader.
H: Boy scouts can exclude a gay man.
R: Private BSA can exclude anyone who might impair ability to preserve organizational identity. |
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Term
| Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin v. Southworth |
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Definition
F: Students paying a general fee, which is distributed to groups that they may not support.
H: Legal, as long as the activities receive equal funding. |
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Term
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Definition
F: Ordinance prohibits displaying symbolic things that incite anger.
H: Struck down the ordinance.
R: City cannot single out "racial" fighting words or those who utter them. |
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Term
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Definition
F: VA law prohibited cross-burning, as it was commonly used to intimidate blacks.
H: Law overturned
R: Law assumed that any cross-burning was used to intimidate. (State must prove that the intent of cross-burning was to intimidate.) |
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Term
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Definition
| "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." |
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Term
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Definition
H: Upheld Mormon's conviction for practicing polygamy.
R: monogamous marriage is necessary for the foundation of society.
Sig: People can believe what they want, but they cannot always act upon those beliefs. Religious liberty is not absolute. |
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Term
| Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940) |
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Definition
H: Jehovah's witnesses go door to door in a Catholic neighborhood playing a record with very offensive anti-Catholic remarks.
H: Reversed Cantwell's conviction for disturbing the peace.
R: Infringes on Cantwell's rights.
Sig: Free Exercise clause is incorporated against the states. The constitution says "congress" shall make no law; this case makes it so no one may make a law. |
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Term
| Sherbert v. Verner (1963) |
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Definition
F: Sherbert is a 7th day Adventist; holds the Sabbath on Saturday rather than Sunday. In a town that closes on Sundays for the regular Sabbath, Verner fires Sherbert for requesting Saturdays off. She was denied unemployment benefits for the same reason.
H: Denying her unemployment benefits violated the Free Exercise clause.
R: A state must have a compelling interest before limiting religious freedom.
Sig: Protection for religious minorities. |
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Term
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Definition
F: Smith and his friend tested positive for peyote, a drug used in his Native American religion. They were fired from their job and were denied unemployment benefits.
H: Upheld denial of unemployment benefits.
R: Smith should not be exempt from an generally applicable law. If there is a law that is applied to everyone, not aimed at curbing a specific religious practice, it may stand even if it infringes upon religious freedom.
Dissent: Undermines the free exercise clause because there is no compelling state interest. If the government can make a neutral law impeding religious freedom, then the freedom means nothing.
Sig: Standard shifts from "compelling state interest" to "generally applicable law." |
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Term
| Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) |
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Definition
Response to Oregon v. Smith
Restores the "compelling government interest" standard for any act that restricts free exercise of religion. |
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Term
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Definition
H: Illegal for the states to provide funding for secular subjects in private schools.
See Lemon test |
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Term
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Definition
A law must pass these three things:
1) must have a secular legislative purpose
2) its principal or primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion
3) must not foster "an excessive government entanglement with religion." |
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Term
| How does the Constitution "accommodate" slavery? |
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Definition
3/5 Compromise
1808 Compromise: In 1808, Congress would have to decide if slavery was still legal
Fugitive Slave Clause: legally obligated citizens to return a runaway slave |
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Term
| Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) |
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Definition
F: Scott's owner moved to a free state at one point, then moved back to the south; Scott argued that he was free because he had lived in a free state.
H: Black individuals were not citizens of the US and had no Constitutional rights, including the right to bring suit in a federal court. |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Equal protection for all races (NOT genders.) |
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Term
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Definition
| The right to vote cannot be denied based on race. (NOT gender yet.) |
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Term
| Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) |
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Definition
F: LA law required trains to provide separate but equal cars for white and blacks. Plessy, 1/8 black, sat in the white cart.
H: upheld the "separate but equal" law
R: This statute is fine because it doesn't destroy any legal equality, and social equality cannot be legislated.
Dissent: Whites think they are dominant, but our constitution is colorblind and does not tolerate classes of citizens. |
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Term
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Definition
F: Sweat, black, applied to UT's law school and was rejected because of his race. He sued, and the district court ordered UT to establish an equivalent black law school. The state set up a shoddy one overnight. Sweatt makes the appeal that this is separate but not equal.
H: Agreed with Sweatt.
Sig: The first time the Supreme Court orders a black student to be admitted to a white school, even though a black school existed. |
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Term
| Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) |
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Definition
F: Began with a case in Kansas and spread to addressing the issue of segregation in public schools across the nation. NAACP filed suit on behalf of black public school students, saying that black schools were inferior and that educational segregation itself violated the equal protection clause. Used the doll test.
H: Segregated public schools are unconstitutional.
R: Agreed with NAACP's doll test that showed that segregation generated a feeling of inferiority.
Sig: An activist opinion ended public school segregation. |
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Term
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Definition
Lowest standard for government; default test
Gives deference to government bodies, allowing them to make laws as the majority sees fit
Tests whether a government action is rationally related to a legitimate government interest. |
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Term
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Definition
Usually applied to sex-based classifications
Classification must (1) serve important governmental objects and (2) be substantially related to achievement of those objectives |
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Term
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Definition
Burden of proof is on the government
Used for suspect classifications--where there's a long legacy of injustice and discrimination--and other cases dealing with fundamental rights.
Government must show that there is (1) a compelling state interest at stake, and (2) no other way to achieve the goal. |
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Term
| Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) |
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Definition
F: Bakke, a white male, is denied admission to UC Med School even though his scores were higher than those admitted under a special program for minorities.
H: Struck down the program. The 14th amendment applies to any person, not just minorities.
R: Fails strict scrutiny: no compelling state interest, and there were other means of achieving diversity.
Sig: Established the "race-plus" test for future affirmative action programs |
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Term
| City of Richmond v. J.S. Croson Co. |
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Definition
| Sig: ANY use of racial classifications by the government would warrant strict scrutiny under the equal protection clause |
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Term
| Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) |
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Definition
F: University of Michigan's law school tries to craft an admission policy aimed at diversifying their student body. They took into account GPA, LSAT, recommendation, and "how the student might contribute to law school life and diversity."
H: Plan was constitutional.
R: Student body diversity is a compelling state interest and the plan was appropriately narrowly tailored--meaning no quotas, individually reviewed applications, colorblind. |
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Term
| Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) |
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Definition
F: Underground admission plan gave 20/150 points for being a minority.
H: While a diverse student body is a compelling interest, this plan is too mechanical to be fair. |
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Term
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Definition
H: The only time the EP clause is violated is when there's de jure (law-mandated) segregation.
Sig: Southern schools use the busing system. |
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Term
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Definition
| H: The school district does not have to use a busing system (like for Swann) for de facto (naturally occurring) segregation. |
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Term
| Involved v. Seattle (2007) |
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Definition
F: Seattle school district allows students a choice of which high school they will attend. The students rank their preferences, and race is used to break a tie.
H: Unconstitutional
R: Similar to affirmative action case; there is compelling government interest, but there is another way; too mechanical. |
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Term
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Definition
| The use of the Equal Protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to secure rights for persons other than the racial minorities for whom the clause was originally intended. |
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Term
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Definition
| The use of the Equal Protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to secure rights for persons other than the racial minorities for whom the clause was originally intended. |
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Term
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Definition
F: The church wanted to expand into a historic district, and the city says no.
H: Court sides with the city.
R: RIFRA was an unconstitutional expansion of congressional power.
Sig: Courts reaffirmed that they hold the power to interpret the law. Return to the "generally applicable" standard. |
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Term
| Church of the LBA v. City of Hialeah |
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Definition
F: A church the Santeria religion wanted to sacrifice animals in public--against the law.
H: Ruled in favor of the church.
R: Ordinance was not religiously neutral, not of general applicability, and they singled out only one type of conduct--religious. |
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