AP Government Required Cases

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

the Supreme Court upheld the power of the national government and denied the right of a state to tax the federal bank using the Constitution's supremacy clause. The Court's broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause paved the way for later rulings upholding expansive federal powers

United States v. Lopez (1995)

Congress may not use the commerce clause to make possession of a gun in a school zone a federal crime

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

Prohibited state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public schools by virtue of 1st Amendment's establishment clause and the 14th Amendment's due process clause; Warren Court's judicial activism.

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

Requiring Amish students to attend school past the eighth grade is a violation of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

Students in an Iowa school were suspended for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam war. Ruled that this suspension was unconstitutional, and that public school students do not "shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door."

New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)

Reinforced Freedom of Press with prosecutions against prior restraint, even in cases involving national security

Schenck v. United States (1919)

Speech may be punished if it creates a clear-and-present-danger test of illegal acts; First Amendment does not protect speech which protects a "clear and present danger"

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Extends to the defendant the right of counsel/attorney in all state and federal criminal trials regardless of their ability to pay.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

The court legalized abortion by ruling that state laws could not restrict it during the first three months of pregnancy. Based on 4th Amendment rights of a person to be secure in their persons.

McDonald v Chicago (2010)

The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense is applicable to the states

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

unanimously held that the racial segregation of children in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment; overruled Plessy v. Ferguson (no stare decisis)

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

Corporations have a 1st Amendment right to expressly support political candidates for Congress and the White House and is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Established the principle of "one person, one vote" and made such patterns of representation illegal. The Court asserted that the federal courts had the right to tell states to reapportion their districts for more equal representation.

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

No racial gerrymandering; race cannot be the sole or predominant factor in redrawing legislative boundaries; majority-minority districts; complies with the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Established judicial review; "midnight judges;" John Marshall; power of the Supreme Court.