AP Gov - SCOTUS Cases

McCulloch v Maryland (1819)

Congress created the Second National Bank of the US. Branch in Maryland. Maryland tried to tax the National Bank.

The US won because of the commerce clause, supremacy clause, and elasticity clause.

Banking is a legitimate part of regulating interstate commerce which is the job of the central government and congress has the power of the purse

US v Lopez (1995)

Congress passed the Gun Free School Zone Act and justified it based on its power to regulate interstate trade (commerce clause)

US lost because mere possession was not interstate trade

The first time in 50 years the courts did not take the commerce clause as a valid justification

Engle v Vitale (1962)

NY State Government ordered the reciting of a government-created prayer at the beginning of each public school day

Ruled unconstitutional (Establishment Clause, aka the separation of church and state).

the court could rule differently if the prayer is not government-created or involves adults

Wisconsin v Yoder (1972)

Wisconsin law required school attendance to age 16. Amish families refused, saying their religion supports only attending through the 8th grade

Yoder won. The interest that the state had in making a small number of students go to school for two more years was minimal, so Yoder’s free exercise clause outweighed it.

Tinker v Des Moines (1969)

students wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. When they refused to remove them-they were suspended

Tinker won. the armbands were political speech, so they could only be limited by the school if they could prove that wearing them would cause a “material and substantial disruption” to the school.

The less political the speech, the less protection it receives (freedom of speech)

Schenck v US (1919)

Schenck was protesting the draft during WWI. He was convicted of violating the Espionage Act of 1917

Freedom of speech can be violated if it presents a “clear and present danger.”

New York Times v United States (1971) aka “The Pentagon Papers Case”

The New York Times had received and was going to publish classified defense department documents. The US government tried to prevent this

NYT won. Government can only violate freedom of the press in the name of national security if there is a “clear-inevitable-and direct threat.”

Gideon v Wainwright (1963)

Gideon was convicted of a felony but denied a free lawyer, so he sued

He won. they violated his right to a lawyer and thus a fair trial (6th Amendment) and the due process clause (14th Amendment)

Roe v Wade (1973)

A Texas woman was denied an abortion because Texas outlawed the procedure

Woman won. women have control over their bodies without the government having a say according to the right to privacy (9th amendment)

Dobbs v Jackson Women Health Organization

Overturned Roe v Wade and left abortion policy up to the states

Griswold v Connecticut

right to contraception

established the reserve right to privacy

McDonald v Chicago (2010)

Chicago passed a city-wide handgun ban. McDonald argued that this took away his Second Amendment right to self-defense

McDonald won because the ban violated the right to bear arms

Brown v Board of Education (1954)

Linda Brown was denied access to a school (all-white) that was within walking distance of her house, and was assigned to a school (all black) several miles away

Brown won, overturning the separate but equal doctrine. ruled unconstitutional because it violated the equal protection clause (14th amendment)

Citizens United v FEC (2010)

Citizens United (independent non profit) created and released a movie critical of Hilary Clinton. The group was barred from distributing the movie

SCOTUS ruled that this violated their Freedom of Speech. They argued that this type of independent expenditure cannot create “quid pro quo” corruption because it is not coordinated with a campaign or political party.

Baker v Carr (1961)

Tennessee has many rural Congressional districts with small populations, and few urban Congressional districts with much larger populations

SCOTUS ruled that these rural districts were violating the equal protection clause because the individual votes in small population districts weighed more than individual votes in the larger population districts

Shaw v Reno (1993)

The Congressional District was racially gerrymandered to create a majority-minority district dominated by black voters.

Because the district had an unusual shape, it was obvious that the only reason for the district was racial gerrymandering, which is a violation of the equal protection clause (14th amendment)

Marbury v Madison (1803)

Established judicial review: the Court has the power to declare laws passed by Congress or actions by the President unconstitutional.