U.S. Supreme Court Cases

Engle v. Vitale

No school sponsored prayer

Lemon v Kurtzman

Created 3 prong test to determine if state aid to private school is constitutional

Schenck v U.S.

No inciting people to ignore the draft

Tinker v. Des Moines

Allowed students to wear armbands; “civil liberties do not thx at the school house doors”

Texas v. Johnson

It is legal to burn a flag

New York Times v. U.S.

Okay to publish papers of how we got into Vietnam; gov’t has no power of prior restraint

Mapp v. Ohio

Exclusionary rule applies in state cases

New Jersey v. T.L.O

Standard to search you in school if they have “reasonable suspicion”

Escobedo v. Illinois

6th amendment gives you right to an attorney when being questioned

Miranda v. Arizona

5th amendment rights when you are detained; must be read right before detained or questioned

Betts v. Brady

States are only required to provide an attorney in capital cases, or when unusual circumstances arise

Gideon v. Wainwright

You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot pay, the state will provide you one

Furman v. Georgia

Death penalty not legal because juries were not given guidelines on when to impose it

Gregg v. Georgia

Fresh penalty now legal. Law changed so juried got explicit instructions on when to impose the death penalty

Korematsu v. U.S.

National security is more important than protection of civil liberties

Dred Scott v. Sandford

Slaves were not proving and had no Constitutional rights

Plessy v. Ferguson

Discrimination based on race (segregation) was legal, as long as the separate accommodations are equal

Brown v. Board of Education

Ended racial discrimination/segregation - “separate is inherently unequal”

Regents of University of California v. Bakke

Race can be a factor in determining admissions into a university

McCulloch v. Maryland

Congress can do more than what is expressively suggested in the Constitution censure of the elastic clause

Gibbons v. Ogden

Only congress has that petty to regulate inner-state commerce; states can only regulate commerce within their borders

U.S. v. Nixon

The president does not have the power of “executive privilege” to keep things secret if the nations interests are above those of the present’s need for privacy