AP Government: Key Supreme Court Cases and Principles

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

Free Exercise rights outweighed state education law.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Established judicial review, giving the Court power to strike down laws that violate the Constitution.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Established implied powers of Congress and confirmed federal supremacy over states.

Schenck v. United States (1919)

Created the 'clear and present danger' test.

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

Symbolic speech is protected if it doesn't disrupt learning.

New York Times v. United States (1971)

Government cannot use prior restraint unless there is immediate, serious danger.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

'Separate but equal' is unconstitutional.

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Established 'one person, one vote.'

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

Race cannot be the sole reason for drawing districts.

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

School prayer is unconstitutional.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Incorporated the right to an attorney at the state level.

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

Fully incorporated the Second Amendment.

United States v. Lopez (1995)

Congress can regulate only activities that substantially affect interstate commerce.

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

Political spending = protected speech.

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022)

Overturned Roe v. Wade and Casey; authority over abortion returned to states.

Schenck v. United States

Could a person's right to free speech be limited during times of war?

New York Times Co. v. United States

Did the Nixon administration's efforts to prevent the publication of the Pentagon Papers violate the First Amendment?

Brown v. Board of Education

Does the segregation of public education based solely on race violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

McDonald v. Chicago

Does the Second Amendment apply to the states?

McCulloch v. Maryland

Can the states tax the National Bank?

Wisconsin v. Yoder

Did a state's requirement that all parents send their children to school at least until age 16 violate the First Amendment by criminalizing the conduct of parents who refused to send their children to school for religious reasons?

Gideon v. Wainwright

Does the Sixth Amendment's right to counsel in criminal cases extend to felony defendants in state courts?

Baker v. Carr

Did the Supreme Court have jurisdiction over questions of legislative apportionment?

United States v. Lopez

Does the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act, forbidding individuals from knowingly carrying a gun in a school zone, exceed the power of Congress to legislate under the Commerce Clause?

Citizens United v. FEC

Do the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) disclosure requirements impose an unconstitutional burden on corporations because they are protected 'political speech' and not subject to regulation as 'campaign speech'?

Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

Does the Mississippi law banning most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy violate the Constitution, or should the Court reconsider Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey?

Shaw v. Reno

Was North Carolina's creation of a racially gerrymandered district a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause?

Engel v. Vitale

Does the reading of a nondenominational prayer at the start of the school day violate the 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment?

Tinker v. Des Moines

Does a prohibition against the wearing of armbands in public school, as a form of symbolic protest, violate the students' freedom of speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment?

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