Required docs and cases

The articles of confederation

• went into effect in 1781

• weaknesses

  • lack of central authority

  • inability to levy taxes

  • no executive branch

  • difficulties passing laws due to the requirement for a unanimous vote

• significance

  • represented the first attempt at a national government

  • underscored the challenges of federalism

Brutus No.1

• written by robert yates

• argued that a strong central government could threaten individual liberties and state sovereignty

• opposed the ratification of the Constitution

Constitution

• written in 1788

• established a government with separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism

Federalist No.10

• written by James Madison

• argued that a strong federal government can protect liberty because it guards against the danger of control by a narrow interest

• a large republic will dilute the influence of any single faction

The Declaration of Independence

• written in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson

• argued for natural rights, the social contract, and the right of the people to overthrow an unjust government

Federalist No. 51

• written by James Madison

• necessity of checks and balances

• separation of powers to prevent tyranny

• provides a rationale for the structure of the government laid out in the constitution

Federalist No. 70

• written by Alexander Hamilton

• benefits of a single executive over a plural executive

  • quick, decisive

• provides a rationale for the presidential system established in the constitution

Federalist No. 78

• written by Alexander Hamilton

• need for judicial independence and the introduction of judicial review

• outlines the reasoning behind the lifetime appointment of judges and establishes the judiciary’s role in the system of checks and balances

Letter from a Birmingham jail

• written by Martin Luther King Jr.

• wrote the letter in response to a public statement of concern and caution issued by eight white southern religious leaders of the time

• king defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism, argues against the slow approach to racial equality, and explains the moral imperative for nonviolent direct action

Marbury v. Madison

• right before adams left office, Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1801 to create new courts and add judges to keep adams’ influence alive

• the appointments were not valid until the appointed judges were delivered their commissions by Jefferson and one of the judges never got theirs

• the court held that the commission should have been delivered, the clause of the judiciary act was unconstitutional

• practice of judicial review was established

McCulloch v. Maryland

• Maryland tried to pass a law that imposed taxes on the national bank

• James McCulloch decided not to pay the tax

• The state court had ruled that the Bank was unconstitutional, and the federal government did not have the authority to charter a bank

• Congress concluded, based on the necessary & proper clause, that Congress is not limited by its expressed powers

• concluded, based on the supremacy clause, that because the national laws were superior to state laws, the states were not allowed to tax the federal government

Schenck v. United States

• a pair of socialists distributed leaflets that stated the draft violated the 13th amendment

• the leaflet wanted people to disobey the draft and schenck was charged with violating the espionage act

• supreme court held that the espionage act did not violate the first amendment and it was an appropriate exercise of Congress’ wartime authority

Brown v. Board of Education

• African American students had been denied admittance to public schools because of these segregation laws, and many argued that this was in violation of the Constitution

• court held that separate but equal is inherently unequal and therefore racial segregation of public schools is unconstitutional

• segregated schools allowed by the previous Plessy case were declared unconstitutional

Baker v. Carr

• an old law that detailed apportionment for Tennessee’s General Assembly had been ignored and stated that reapportionment did not take into account the significant change that the state had gone through

• chief justice and court concluded that because of the fourteenth amendment issues that the case seemed to address, the supreme court did not have authority to hear this case

Engel v. Vitale

• short but voluntary prayer would be recited at a school

• Several organizations filed suit against the Board of regents, claiming that the prayer violated the Constitution

• The court held that states could not hold prayers in public school, even if it was voluntary, and even if the prayer did not adhere to a specific religion

• school sponsorship of religious activities = violation of first amendment

Gideon v. Wainwright

• gideon was charged with a felony and requested he have a court appointed lawyer, however florida state law only gave lawyers to capital crimes/cases

• gideon filed a habeas corpus suit, stating that the court’s decision violated his rights to be represented

• holding was that the sixth amendment’s right to counsel applies to state court defendents via the fourteenth amendment

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

• a group of students decided to wear black armbands in order to protest the vietnam war

• after wearing the armbands to school, the students were sent home and decided to sue

• supreme court held that students still have free speech rights at school and in order to justify the suppression of speech, the speech must substantially interfere with school operations

New York Tikes Co. V. United States

• nixon administration tried to prevent the New York times from publishing material that belonged to a defense department study about US intervention in Vietnam

• nixon stated that it was necessary to national security to prohibit it before publication

• court bolstered freedom of the press

Wisconsin v, Yoder

• Amish parents refused to send their children to school after the 8th grade because their religion did not agree with high school attendance

• They were charged under a Wisconsin law that required students to attend school until age 16

• The court held that the requirement to send children to school beyond the eighth grade was unconstitutional

• states that an individuals interest in the free exercise of religion was more powerful than federal interest in sending children to school beyond the eighth grade

Shaw v. Reno

• Several North Carolina residents challenged a proposed, unusually shaped district. they believed that the only purpose of the district was that it would definitely elect African-American representatives

• supreme court held that because the district was shaped in such an odd way, it was enough to prove that there was a very apparent effort to separate voters racially

United States v. Lopez

• a guy brought a gun into his school

• federal charges were soon imposed because of the violation of the Gun-Free School Zones Act

• Act states that individuals could not possess firearms within school zones based on the premise of the commerce clause

• law was considered unconstitutional since having a gun in the school zone did not substantially affect interstate commerce, which is a clear provision in the commerce clause

• reaffirmed the tenth amendment

McDonald v. Chicago

• chicago passed a handgun ban law and several suits were filed against the city challenging the ban

• court stated that the handgun ban was unconstitutional

• because the right to self-defense was fundamental, the 2nd amendment was incorporated to the states through the fourteenth amendment’s due process clause

Citizens United v. federal election commission

• bipartisan campaign reform act had banned corporations from independent political spending and direct contributions to campaigns or politcal parties

• the holding was that corporations should be considered people and therefore their funding of “independent political expenditures cannot be limited”

• considered a form of political speech, which is protected by the free speech portion of the first amendment

• led to the development of super PACS and significant increase in the amount of money contributed to political campaigns