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43 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back

Marbury v Madison

- Date: 1803




- SCOTUS ruled that it had the power of judicial review.

Plessy v Ferguson

- Date: 1896




- Allowed segregation on the grounds that 'separate but equal' was allowed by the 14th Amendment

Korematsu v US

- Date: 1944




- Detainment of Japanese-Americans without trial, as ordered by the President, was not unconstitutional.




- Example of judicial restraint

Brown v Topeka Board of Education

AKA Brown v Board




- Date: 1954




- Segregation in education was unconstitutional; provided that Plessy v Ferguson was wrong; allowed for future striking down of segregation.




- Example of liberal judicial activism (early liberal work of Chief Justice Earl Warren)

Trop v Dulles

- Date: 1958




- The confiscation of a military deserter's passport would be considered 'cruel and unusual' thus unconstitutional under the 8th Amendment.




- Example of loose constructionism and liberal activism




- "The Amendment must draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.” ~ Earl Warren

Katzenbach v McClung

- Date: 1964




- Commerce Clause expanded to uphold integration of restaurants, thus upholding the Civil Rights Act of 1964




- Example of liberal activism and loos constructionism

Reed v Reed

- Date: 1971




- Expanded the Equal Protection Clause to cover women with regards to divorce




- Example of liberal activism and loose constructionism

Roe v Wade

- Date: 1973




- 7-2 ruling to expand the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to include a woman's right to privacy with regards to abortion.




- Example of liberal activism and loose constructionism

US v Nixon

- Date: 1974




- 8-0 ruling that POTUS is not above the law and that executive privilege did not allow the withholding of documents potentially linked to a criminal investigation.




- Example of checks and balances of the Court. Also an example of a justice recusing themselves (Rehnquist had previously worked in the Nixon Administration).

National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) v Village of Skokie

- Date: 1977




- Protected the 1st Amendment right of the Nazi Party to hold an antisemitic protest in a Jewish neighbourhood.




- Example of judicial restraint and upholding controversial liberties.

Regents of the University of California v Bakke

AKA Regents v Bakke




- Date: 1978 (began in '77)




- Ruled that affirmative action in college admissions in the form of quotas was unconstitutional.




- Example of a conservative decision

Texas v Johnson

- Date: 1989




- Protected the 1st Amendment right to burn the US flag, striking down the flag burning laws of 48 states.




- Example of judicial restraint (Scalia has spoken about this) and challenging the state legislatures.

Planned Parenthood v Casey

- Date: 1992




- Set the standard for restrictions on abortion rights to not pose an 'undue burden' to those rights.




- Example of conservative judicial pragmatism.

US v Lopez

- Date: 1995




- 5-4 ruling that the Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990 was not covered by the Commerce Clause. It was subsequently amended.




- Example of conservative judicial activism; the first restriction of the Federal Government under the Commerce Clause since the New Deal.

US v Morrison

- Date: 2000




- 5-4 ruling that limited the Violence Against Women Act due to the Commerce Clause not applying.




- Example of conservative judicial activism (use with Lopez)

Bush v Gore

- Date: 2000




- 5-4 ruling that applied the Equal Protection Cause to stop a recount of presidential ballots in Florida




- Example of conservative judicial activism which arguably decided the election result

Stenberg v Carhart

- Date: 2000




- 5-4 decision that required partial birth abortion bans to make exceptions in the case of life of the mother




- Example of liberal activism (the 5 were the four liberal justices + O'Connor)

Atkins v Virginia

- Date: 2002




- 6-3 decision that banned execution of those considered by the state to be 'mentally retarded' as cruel and unusual.




- Example of liberal judicial activism

Ring v Arizona

- Date: 2002




- 6-3 decision that overturned Arizona state laws allowing judges to make the decision as to whether the death penalty could be applied - it had to be juries




- Example of liberal judicial activism

Gratz v Bollinger

- Date: 2003




- 6-3 ruling that banned allocation of extra admission points to uni applicants from ethnic minorities under the Equal Protection Clause (too much like a quota)




- Example of a conservative decision

Grutter v Bollinger

- Date: 2003




- 6-3 ruling that allowed for the consideration of race as a factor in college admission




- Example of a liberal decision

Lawrence v Texas

- Date: 2003




- Struck down the anti-sodomy laws in Texas and 13 other states under the Equal Protection Clause, decriminalising homosexuality




- Example of liberal judicial activism

Rasul v Bush

- Date: 2004




- 6-3 ruling that Guantánamo Bay inmates could invoke their habeas corpus rights and appeal their detention.




- An example of liberal judicial activism

Roper v Simmons

- Date: 2005




- 5-4 ruling that banned the death penalty as punishment for crimes committed while under the age of 18 due to the 8th & 14th Amendments




- An example of liberal judicial activism

Gonzales v Raich

- Date: 2005




- 5-4 ruling that Congress had the power to criminalise the production and use of marijuana even where states had approved it for medical use




- An example of liberal judicial activism (for some reason)

Hamdan v Rumsfeld

- Date: 2006




- 5-3 ruling (Roberts recused) that the Bush Administration's military commissions used to try Guantánamo inmates were unconstitutional as only Congress can create them (among other details)




- Appears to be a liberal decision (liberal justices + Kennedy)

Gonzales v Carhart

- Date: 2007




- 5-4 ruling upholding bans on partial birth abortions, disregarding the need for 'health of the mother' exceptions prescribed in Stenberg v Carhart




- An example of conservative judicial activism and shows the impact of Justice Alito's appointment to replace Justice O'Connor

DC v Heller

- Date: 2008




- 5-4 decision ruling that people in federal enclaves (bits of America that aren't states) could own firearms in the home due to the 2nd Amendment, overturning DC's Firearms Control Regulations Act of 1975




- An example of conservative judicial activism

Boumediene v Bush

- Date: 2008




- 5-4 decision to strike down the Military Commissions Act of 2006, passed after Hamdan v Rumsfeld to allow military commission trials, as such trials violated habeas corpus.




- An example of liberal judicial activism

Kennedy v Louisiana

- Date: 2008




- 5-4 decision to overturn Louisiana law imposing the death penalty for child rape; in a wider context, limited the death penalty to crimes where the victim died and crimes against the state




- Example of liberal judicial activism (liberal justices + Kennedy)

McDonald v City of Chicago

- Date: 2010




- Expanded DC v Heller to the states, making bans on ownership of firearms illegal, overturning Chicago's effective ban




- Example of conservative judicial activism

Citizens United v Federal Election Commission (FEC)

AKA Citizens United




- Date: 2010




- Held that election expenditure by organisations could be covered by the First Amendment as freedom of speech




- Example of conservative judicial activism (gutted McCain-Feingold Act)

SpeechNOW.org v Federal Election Commission

CONSIDERED A PART OF CITIZENS UNITED




- Date: 2010




- Clarified Citizens United; basically allowed for super-PACs




- Example of conservative judicial activism

Snyder v Phelps

- Date: 2011




- 8-1 decision that protected the First Amendment right of the Westboro Baptist Church to protest publicly against American tolerance of homosexuality at the funeral of a US Marine whose father was gay. This right was defended despite the "outrageous" nature of whatever the protest may be.




- Example of judicial restraint (only Justice Alito voted on emotion against the majority)

National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) v Sebelius

- Date: 2012




- 5-4 decision that effectively upheld the Affordable Care Act: protected the individual mandate under Congress's power to tax; but banned Congress withholding all Medicaid funds to states who didn't expand Medicaid according to the ACA




- Example of a liberal decision on the surface, however Chief Justice Roberts (who voted with the liberals) decided not to justify it under the Commerce Clause but other clauses, thus limiting the liberalism of the decision (shows Roberts Court pragmatism)

Arizona v US

- Date: 2012




- 5-3 decision (Kagan recused) to overturn Arizona SB 1070, designed to combat illegal immigration (eg requiring state police officers to stop and question those they suspected of being illegal immigrants) because this was Congress's power, not theirs




- Example of judicial activism (mix of liberal justices + Kennedy & Roberts)

US v Windsor

- Date: 2013



- 5-4 decision to strike down Section 3 of the Defence of Marriage Act of 1996 (the section that banned gay marriage federally), with the Equal Protection Clause as the justification (gay couples didn't have the right to inherit from their spouse tax-free under DOMA)




- Example of liberal judicial activism

Hollingsworth v Perry

- Date: 2013




- 5-4 decision (majority = liberals + Roberts) to not hear a case to reinstate California's same-sex marriage ban (Proposition 8), thus same-sex marriage remained re-legalised (linked specifically to referendums)




- Example of a liberal decision in favour of LGBT rights

Shelby County v Holder

- Date: 2013




- 5-4 decision that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (the section which said which states needed pre-approval to change voting laws) was unconstitutional, thus Section 5 (the section which sanctioned the preapproval) was unenforceable; basically gutted the Voting Rights Act




- Example of a conservative activist decision

Riley v California

- Date: 2014




- Unanimous ruling (though Alito did write a separate opinion) to expand the 4th Amendment to the data held on mobile phones, protecting it from warrant-less searches.




- Example of loose constructionism

Holt v Hobbs

- Date: 2015




- Unanimous ruling that an Arkansas prison policy banning a Muslim inmate from growing his beard violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a law that protected the freedom to exercise religion




- Example of a liberal decision, maybe?

Obergefell v Hodges

- Date: 2015




- 5-4 ruling that found any state ban on same-sex marriage, and any failure to recognise same-sex marriages from another state, violated the 14th Amendment. This overturned 14 states' same-sex marriage bans, rendered DOMA completely unenforceable and led to the beginning of same-sex marriage in three US territories.




- Example of liberal judicial activism

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores

- Date: 2015




- Employment lawsuit on which justices voted unanimously (Alito and Thomas also wrote their own opinions) in favour of Samantha Elauf, a Muslim who had been refuse a job at Abercrombie & Fitch because her headscarf violated the uniform policy - the company claimed that she hadn't stated her religion or that the headscarf was worn for religious reasons




- Example of defence of religious freedom