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Supreme Court Cases
For AP Government
39
Other
12th Grade
12/14/2008

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Term
(1833) Barron v. Baltimore
Definition
Fifth Amendment does not apply to State governments – effectively overruled by cases which apply Fourteenth Amendment protection to the Bill of Rights.
Term
(1925) Gitlow v. New York
Definition
Upheld a conviction for publishing articles that advocated the violent overthrow of democratic governments in general and the government of the United States in particular.
Term
(1971) Lemon v. Kurtzman
Definition
Established a three-part test for determining if a particular government action violates the establishment clause.
Term
(1972) Wisconsin v. Yoder
Definition
Ruled that Wisconsin’s compulsory education laws must yield to the concerns of Amish parents that sending their children to public school after the eighth grade exposed the children to influences that undermined their religious faith and religious practices.
Term
(1931) Near v. Minnesota
Definition
Established the prior restraint doctrine. The doctrine protects the press from government attempts to block publication.
Term
(1919) Schenck v. United States
Definition
Upheld convictions under the Federal Espionage Act. Defendants were charged with distributing leaflets aimed at inciting draft resistance during World War I; their defense was that their anti-draft speech was protected by the free speech clause. Because the defendants’ anti-draft rhetoric created a “clear and present danger” to the success of the war effort, it was not protected speech.
Term
(1951) Dennis v. United States
Definition
Upheld conviction of Communist Party members for advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government in violation of the federal Smith Act by applying the clear-and-present- danger test.
Term
(1978) Zurcher v. Stanford Daily
Definition
Held that a proper search warrant could be applied to a newspaper as well as to anyone else without necessarily violating the first amendment rights to freedom of the press.
Term
(1957) Roth v. United States
Definition
Ruled that obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press.
Term
(1973) Miller v. California
Definition
Established the test for determining if a book, movie, television program is obscene and thus unprotected by the First Amendment.
Term
(1964) New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
Definition
Extended the protections afforded to the press by the free press clause. In this case, the Supreme Court held that a public official or public figure suing a publisher for libel must prove that the publisher published a story that he or she knew was false or published the story in “reckless disregard of its truth or falsity,” which means that the publisher did not take professionally adequate steps to determine the story’s truth or falsity.
Term
(1969) Tinker v. Des Moines School District
Definition
Extended First Amendment protection to public school students in the now-famous statement that “it can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights of freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” The Supreme Court then held that a public school could not suspend students who wore black armbands to school to symbolize their opposition of the Vietnam War.
Term
(1989) Texas v. Johnson
Definition
Held that burning an American flag is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment. Expressive conduct, the Supreme Court explained, is conduct that is intended by the actor to convey a message, and the message that the actor intends to convey is one that observers likely would understand.
Term
(1968) United States v. O’Brien
Definition
Upheld the conviction of David Paul O’Brien for burning his draft card to dramatize his opposition to the Vietnam War, in violation of a regulation requiring a draft registrant to keep his card in his possession at all times.
Term
(1961) Mapp v. Ohio
Definition
Extended the exclusionary rule announced in Weeks v. United States to state and local law-enforcement officers. After this case, evidence seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment could not be used by the prosecution as evidence of a defendant’s guilt in any court – federal, state, or local.
Term
(1966) Miranda v. Arizona
Definition
Held that a person in police custody cannot be questioned unless told that 1) he or she has the right to remain silent, 2) he or she has the right to an attorney (at government expense if the person is unable to pay), and 3) that anything the person says after acknowledging that he or she understands these rights can be used as evidence of guilt at trial.
Term
(1963) Gideon v. Wainwright
Definition
Overruled Betts v. Brady and held for the first time that poor defendants in criminal cases have the right to a state-paid attorney under the 6th Amendment. This rule has been refined to apply when the defendant, if convicted, can be sentenced to more than six months in jail.
Term
(1976) Gregg v. Georgia
Definition
Death penalty is not necessarily unconstitutional.
Term
(1988) Hustler Magazine v. Falwell
Definition
Public officials or public figures subject to parody by the press cannot recover damages for the emotional distress caused by the parody unless they can prove that the parody was false or was published in reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of its content.
Term
(1965) Griswold v. Connecticut
Definition
Invalidated a Connecticut law involving contraceptives. The Court ruled that the Constitution protected the right to privacy.
Term
(1973) Roe v. Wade
Definition
Held that females have a constitutional right under various provisions of the Constitution – most notably, the due process clause – to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy. The Supreme Court decision in this case was the most significant in a long line of decisions over a period of 50 years that recognized a constitutional right of privacy, even though the word privacy is not found in the Constitution.
Term
(1989) Webster v. Reproductive Health Services
Definition
upheld the constitutionality of a Missouri law that denied the use of public employees or publicly funded facilities in the performance of an abortion unless the woman's life was in danger.
Term
(1992) Planned Parenthood v. Casey
Definition
Supreme Court loosened its standard for evaluating restrictions on abortion from one of "strict scrutiny" of any restraints on a "fundamental right" to one of "undue burden" that permits considerably more regulation.
Term
(1962) Engel v. Vitale
Definition
Held that the establishment clause was violated by a public school district’s practice of starting each day with a prayer.
Term
civil liberties
Definition
freedoms that protect the individual from the government; set limits for government so that it cannot abuse its power and interfere with the lives of its citizens.
Term
1st Amendment
Definition
freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition (5)
Term
2nd Amendment
Definition
right to bear arms
Term
4th Amendment
Definition
*Prohibition Against Unreasonable Search and Seizures
-protections against arbitrary arrest and prosecution (extends to aliens as well as to citizens)
- need probable cause for search; search warranty
Term
5th Amendment
Definition
*Rights When Accused:
-no person held to answer for a capital
-no person be subject for same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb
-not compelled to be a witness against himself
-nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without "due process of law"
+ Self-incrimination (do not have to take stand)
Term
6th Amendment
Definition
*Rights When on Trial:
-right to speedy and public trial by impartial jury (in district where crime was committed)
-confronted with witnesses against him
-obtain witnesses in his favor
-right to have lawyer...*
Term
7th Amendment
Definition
right to trial by jury; common-law/civil suits (i.e., jury not judge decides)
Term
8th Amendment
Definition
-excessive bail not required*
-nor excessive fines imposed
-nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted*
Term
9th Amendment
Definition
unenumerated rights protected (elastic clause of Bill o' Rights); you can assume there's other rights...
Term
incorporation doctrine
Definition
The legal concept under which the Supreme Court has nationalized the Bill of Rights by making most of its provisions applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Term
establishment clause
Definition
Part of the First Amendment stating “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
Term
free exercise clause
Definition
A First Amendment provision that prohibits government from interfering with the practice of religion.
Term
due process clause
Definition
-holds states to provisions of the bill of rights
-says "no state shall make or enforce any law which abridges the privileges or immunities of citizens nor depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law"
-most freedoms in the bill of rights function as limitations on the states
-there is legal process if gov't takes freedom away from you*
Term
probable cause
Definition
The situation occurring when the police have reason to believe that a person should be arrested. In making the arrest, the police are allowed legally to search for and seize incriminating evidence. (4th amendment)
Term
slander/libel
Definition
slander - spoken defamation (malicious intent); libel - written
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