American Government Clep--Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Front 1

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Back 1

established the principle of judicial review, giving the court the right to rule on the constitutionality of an act, law, etc.

Front 2

Muculloch v. Maryland (1819)

Back 2

Established the constitutional supremacy of the federal government over state governments as suggested by the implied powers doctrine

Front 3

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Back 3

While declaring the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, it also established that slaves were not citizens of the US

Front 4

Munn v. Illinois (1877)

Back 4

States were allowed to regulate private businesses in the public interst

Front 5

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Back 5

Declared separate but equal accommodations to enforce racial segregation

Front 6

Standard Oil Co Of New Jersey et al. v. US (1911)

Back 6

US can dissolve a "trust" when that trust is exercising "unreasonable restraint of trade"

Front 7

Schenk v. US (1919)

Back 7

US can restrict free speech, especially during wartime, when it is shown to present a "clear and present danger"

Front 8

Schechter v. US (1935)

Back 8

Congress cannot delegate its power and authority to the President

Front 9

Dennis et al. v. US (1951)

Back 9

The Smith Act (stating it is a crime to advocate the overthrow of the government by force) is declared constitutional.

Front 10

Yates v. US (1957)

Back 10

modified Dennis et al. v. US ruling to apply only to the words connected to direct action in this endeavor

Front 11

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

Back 11

Laws enforcing segregation in schools are unconstitutional. States ordered to desegregate at "all deliberate speed."

Front 12

Roth v. US (1957)

Back 12

Declared obscenity as that which appeals to "prurient interest" and has "no redeeming social importance"

Front 13

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Back 13

Federal exclusionary rule, stating that illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in a trial, is extended to the States.

Front 14

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Back 14

State legislatures (and later congressional districts) must be proportional to the people represented to allow for equal representation.

Front 15

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Back 15

Suspects must be informed of their rights under the law before being questioned in a crime.

Front 16

Furmann v. Georgia (1972)

Back 16

All death penalty statutes, in all states, were unconstitutional as written due to the subjectivity and arbitrariness. Rewritten state statutes brought the death penalty back in a few years

Front 17

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Back 17

Laws prohibiting abortion, except in the last trimester, are unconstitutional based on the 14th Amendment's implied right of a woman's privacy in decisions about her body.

Front 18

University of California v. Bakke (1978)

Back 18

Universitites can admit students on the basis of race in order to combat discrimination

Front 19

Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)

Back 19

States can regulate sexual conduct, even in private and among consenting adults

Front 20

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)

Back 20

States can restrict access to abortions, so long as they do not impose restrictions that would, in effect outlaw them entirely.

Front 21

Harris v. Forklift Systems Inc. (1993)

Back 21

Sexual harrassment claims can be valid even when no severe or emotional damage occurs

Front 22

Bush et. al v. Gore et al. (2000)

Back 22

In a landmark 5 to 4 Decision, the court overturns the ruling of the florida State Supreme Court and cedes that state's Elecotral College votes, and the Presidency of the US to George W. Bush

Front 23

Mandan v. Rumsfield (2006)

Back 23

court finds that the war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (established by the Bust administration) lacks "The power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate the Uniforme Code of military Justice and the rour Geneva Conventions signed in 1949

Front 24

establishment clause

Back 24

congress may not found an official religion

Front 25

free-exercise clause

Back 25

freedom of the individual to engage in religious practices

Front 26

Lemon v. Kurtzman

Back 26

provided courts and interest groups with a "lemon test" to determine where their activity was constitutional

Front 27

Lemont Test

Back 27

Help test if constitutional:

1. When considering funding or any kind of involvement, the state would ensure that the program in question has no religious purpose.

2. The govt involvement must not promote or inhibit religion

3. The govt action must not lead to its excessive entanglement with religion

Front 28

Agostini v. Felton

Back 28

the 1st amendment requires only govt. neutrality toward religion.

lowered "wall of separation between church and state" (thomas jefferson)

Front 29

Zelman v. Simmons-Harris

Back 29

allowed parents to use publicly funded school vouchers to pay tuition at religious schools

Front 30

Lynch v. Donnelly

Back 30

a Christmas manager display, along w/ a depiction of Santa, on public property was constitutional because

1. the display's primary purpose was to celebrate a national holiday.
2. it did not actively promote religion
3. the display involved no excessive entanglement of govt. w/ religion

Front 31

Engel v. Vitale

Back 31

struck down a brief prayer said in New York public schools

Front 32

Sherbert v. Verner

Back 32

Supreme Court ruled that a state could not decline to give UIB on account of a Seventh-day activist's refusal to work on Saturday

Front 33

Brandenburg v. Ohio

Back 33

struck down conviction of a Ku Klux Clansman who had made threatening statements. Threat not credible.

Front 34

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

Back 34

court determined that black armbands to protest Vietnam conflict did not create undue distractions or undermine school discipline. Armbands were symbolic expression.

Front 35

Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire

Back 35

Supreme court upheld the conviction of a Jehovah's Witness who called a marshal a fascist. (during wartime, seen as provocative)

Front 36

Cohen v. California

Back 36

Court defended a person's right to wear a vulgar anti-Vietnam slogan

Front 37

New York Times v. Sullivan

Back 37

Supreme Court decided that false statements made about officials were protected unless one could prove malice-the intention to do harm.

Front 38

New York Times v. US

Back 38

Supreme Court said that the govt had not proven that damage to national security outweighed the interest of the public in knowing what their govt was up to.

Front 39

Morse v. Frederick

Back 39

Court defended a public school official's confiscation of a student banner at a school-sponsored parade that said "bong hits 4 Jesus"

contrary to schools' purpose and not protected "school speech"

Front 40

Duncan v. Louisiana

Back 40

Sixth amendment, right to jury applied to the states

Front 41

Gideon v. Wainright

Back 41

Court required legal counsel to be made available to all defendants

Front 42

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

Back 42

Court upheld a Pennsylvania law requiring pre-abortion counseling, a twenty-four-hour waiting period, and parental or judicial permission for girls under eighteen

Front 43

Stenburg v. Carhart

Back 43

The court struck down a Nebraska law (and w/ it 30 other state laws) that made late term abortions (partial-birth abortions) illegal

Front 44

Fargher v. City of Boca Raton
and
Burlington Industries v. Ellerth

Back 44

ruled that employers are responsible for setting up safeguards against sexual harassment int he workplace

Front 45

U.S. v. Curtiss-Wright
and
U.S. v. Pink

Back 45

Supreme Court ruled that the Congress had delegated broad discretionary powers to the president with regard to foreign policy and that an executive agreement is the legal equivalent of a treaty.