Eli's American Studies Court Cases

Front 1

Engel v. Vitale

Back 1

(1962)
Issue: Establishment Clause

Decision: Requiring the recitation of a non-sectarian, government-sponsored prayer in the public school violates the principle of the separation of church and state; ban on prayer in public schools

Front 2

Gideon v. Wainwright

Back 2

(1963)
Issue: Sixth Amendment

Decision: The right to counsel is fundamental to a fair trial; the state must provide an attorney to poor defendants charged with a felony; the Sixth Amendment applies to the states through the Fourteeth Amendment.

Front 3

Gitlow v. New York

Back 3

(1925)
Issue: Freedom of Speech

Decision: The First Amendment freedom of speech protection is incorporated/ applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment; incorporation doctrine. gitlow had advocated for the overthrow of the government

Front 4

Lemon v. Kurtzmann

Back 4

(1971)
Issue: Establishment Clause

Decision: When a law or state action invovles religion, it must have a secular purpose; it cannot advance or inhibit religion, or excessively entangle the government with relgion; Lemon Test.

Front 5

Miller v. California

Back 5

(1973)
Issue: Freedom of Speech and Press

Decision: Outlines a test to define obscene materials that are not protected under the First Amendment. community standards were includes as were LAPS-- a work is obscene if it has no literary, artistic, political, or scientific" value.

Front 6

Miranda v. Arizona

Back 6

(1966)
Issue: Fifth Amendment

Decision: Prior to questioning by police, a person in custody must be informed of the following: his or her constitutional rights to remain silent, that anything said can be used against him/her, that he/she has a right to have an attorney present during questioning, and to have an attorney appointed if he/she cannot afford; Mirand Warning.

Front 7

Near v. Minnesota

Back 7

(1931)
Issue: Freedom of the Press

Decision: States cannot ban offensive publications; First Amendment freedom-of-the-press protections apply to the states. (published about Jewish gangs in his newspapers)

Front 8

New York Times v. United States

Back 8

(1971)
Issue: Freedom of the Press

Decision: The Supreme Court refused to prevent the publication of The Pentagon Papers, a classified documentary history of U.S. invovlement in Vietnam, on national security ground; prior restraint

Front 9

Plessy v. Ferguson

Back 9

(1896)
Issue: Fourteenth Amendment

Decision: Segregation by race was constitutional provided the facilities are equal; Separate but Equal doctrine.

Front 10

Schenck v. United States

Back 10

(1919)
Issue: Freedom of Speech

Decision: Freedom of speech is not absolute; the decision established the clear-and-present-danger test as a constitutional restriction of free speech; you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theatre.

Front 11

Texas v. Johnson

Back 11

(1989)
Issue: Freedom of Speech

Decision: The burning of the American flag is symbolic speech and is protected under the First Amendment.

Front 12

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

Back 12

(1969)
Issue: Freedom of Speech

Decision: The wearing of arm bands by students to protest the war in Vietnam is protected speech and cannot be prohibited by school officials; students do not give up their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door.

Front 13

Abrams v. United States

Back 13

(1919)
Issue: Clear and Present Danger/Freedom of Speech

Decision: Defendants' criticism of U.S. involvement in World War I was not protected by the First Amendment, because they advocated a strike in munitions production and the violent overthrow of the government.

Front 14

Reynolds v. United States

Back 14

(1878)
Issue: Freedom of Religion

Decision: Religious duty was not a suitable defense to a criminal indictment. That means Reynolds although his religion (Mormon) does allow to have multiple wives, he can't.

Front 15

Katz v. United States

Back 15

(1967)
Issue: 4th Amendment/Search and Seizure

Decision: The Court extended the Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure to protect individuals with a “reasonable expectation of privacy”

Front 16

Terry v. Ohio

Back 16

(1968)
Issue: Search and Seizure

Decision: Police may stop a person if they have a reasonable suspicion that the person has committed or is about to commit a crime, and may frisk the suspect for weapons if they have reasonable suspicion that the suspect is armed and dangerous, without violating the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.