Ap Government Court Cases

Front 1

The 1833 Supreme Court decisions holding that the Bill of Rights restrained only the national government, not the states and cities

Back 1

Baron v Baltimore

Front 2

The 1925 SC decision holding that freedom of press and speech are “fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from impairment by the states” as well as the federal government

Back 2

Gitlow v New York

Front 3

The 1971 SC decision that established that aid to church related schools must 1) have a secular legislative purpose, 2) have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion and 3) not foster excessive government entanglement with religion

Back 3

Lemon v Kurtzman

Front 4

The 1962 SC decision holding that state officials violated the First Amendment when they wrote a prayer to be recited by New York’s schoolchildren

Back 4

Engel v Vitale

Front 5

A 1963 SC decision holding that a Pen. Law requiring Bible reading in schools violated the establishment clause in the First Amendment

Back 5

School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v Schempp

Front 6

The 1931 SC decision holding that the First Amendment protects newspapers from prior restraint

Back 6

Near v Minnesota

Front 7

A 1919 decision upholding the conviction of a socialist who had urged young men to resist the draft during WWI

Back 7

Schenck v US

Front 8

A 1978 SC decision holding that a proper search warrant could be applied to a newspaper as well as to anyone else without necessarily violating the First Amendment

Back 8

Zurcher v Stanford Daily

Front 9

A 1957 SC decision ruling that “obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press”

Back 9

Roth v US

Front 10

A 1973 SC decision that avoided defining obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene in terms of appealing to a “prurient interest’ and being “patently offensive’ and lacking in value

Back 10

Miller v California

Front 11

Decided in 1964, this case established guidelines for determining whether public officials and public figures could win damage suits for libel, to do so, individuals must prove that the defamatory statements were made with “actual malice” and reckless disregard for the truth

Back 11

New York Times v Sullivan

Front 12

A 1989 case in which the SC struck down a law banning the burning of the American flags on the grounds that such action was symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment

Back 12

Texas v Johnson

Front 13

A 1974 case in which the Supreme Court held that a state could not force a newspaper to print replies from candidates it had criticized, illustrating the limited power of government to restrict the print media

Back 13

Miami Herald Publishing Company v Tornillo

Front 14

A 1969 case in which the SC upheld the restrictions on radio and television broadcasting, these restrictions on the broadcast media are much tighter than those on the print media because they are only a limited number of broadcasting frequencies available

Back 14

Red Lion Broadcasting Company v FCC

Front 15

The SC protected the right to assemble peaceably in this 1958 case when it decided that the NAACP did not have to reveal its membership list and thus subject its members to harassment

Back 15

NAACP v Alabama

Front 16

The 1961 SC decision ruling that the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures must be extended to states as well as the federal government

Back 16

Mapp v Ohio

Front 17

The 1966 SC decision that sets guidelines for police questioning of accused persons to protect them against self-incrimination and to protect their right counsel

Back 17

Miranda v Arizona

Front 18

The 1963 SC decision holding that anyone accused of a felony where imprisonment may be imposed, however poor he may be, has a right to a lawyer

Back 18

Gideon v Wainright

Front 19

The 1976 SC decision that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, stating that “It is an extreme sanction, suitable to the most extreme of crimes,” the court did not therefore believe that the death sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment

Back 19

Gregg v Georgia

Front 20

The 1987 Sc decision that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty against charges that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment because minority defendants were more likely to receive the death penalty than were White defendants

Back 20

McCleskey v Kemp

Front 21

The 1973 SC decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional, the decision forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother’s heath in the second trimester and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester

Back 21

Roe v Wade

Front 22

a 1992 case in which the Sc loosened its standard for evaluating restrictions on abortion from one of “strict security” of any restraints on a “fundamental right” to one of “undue burden” that permits considerably more regulation

Back 22

Planned Parenthood v Casey

Front 23

The 1857 SC decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed the no rights as a citizen and that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in the territories

Back 23

Scott v Sandford

Front 24

A 1896 SC decision that provided a constitutional justification for segregation by ruling that a Louisiana law requiring “equal but separate accommodations for the White and colored races” was constitutional

Back 24

Plessy v Ferguson

Front 25

The 1954 SC decision holding that school segregation in Topeka, Kansas was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection, this case marked the end of legal segregation in the US

Back 25

Brown v Board of Education

Front 26

A 1944 SC decision that upheld as constitutional the internment of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent in encampments in WWII

Back 26

Korematsu v US

Front 27

The landmark case in 1971 in which the SC for the first time upheld a claim of gender discrimination

Back 27

Reed v Reed

Front 28

In this 1976 ruling, the SC established the “medium scrutiny” standard for determining gender discrimination

Back 28

Craig v Boren

Front 29

A 1978 SC decision holding that a state university could not admit less qualified individuals solely because of their race

Back 29

Regents of the University of Cali v Bakke

Front 30

A 1995 SC decision holding that federal programs that classify people by race, even for ostensibly benign purpose such as expanding opportunities for minorities, should be presumed to be unconstitutional

Back 30

Adarand Constructors v Pena