Court Cases AP Government

Marbury v. Madison

William Marbury was denied his judicial commission.

Established judicialreview, allowing the Supreme Court to invalidate laws that conflict with the Constitution.

Article III (judicial powers)

Mcculloch v. Maryland

Maryland taxed the national bank

Federal power > state power, established implied powers

Necessary and proper clause (Article I, Sec. 8)

Gibbons v Ogden

Competing steamboat operators across state lines

Congress controls interstate commerce

Commerce clause

Barron v. Baltimore

Property owner claimed city ruined his wharf

Bill of Rights applies only to the federal government

5th amendment

Reynolds v. US

Polygamy claimed as a religious duty

Laws can limit religious practices (not beliefs)

1st amendment

Plessy v. Ferguson

Separated train cars challenged

Upheld '“separate but equal” (later overturned)

14th amendment

Schenck v. US

Anti-draft pamphlets during WWI

Established “clear and present danger” test

1st amendment

Gitlow v. New York

Socialist speech punished by state

Began selective incorporation

1st and 14th

Korematsu v. US

Japanese internment during WWII

Allowed limits on rights during wartime

14th

Roth v. US

Obscene materials were mailed

Obscenity not protected speech

1st amendment

Brown v Board

School racial segregation challenged

Overturned Plessy, ended school segregation

14th equal protection

Mapp v Ohio

Illegal search evidence used in trial

Exclusionary rule applies to state

4th and 14th

Baker v Carr

Unequal legislative districts

Established one person one vote

14th

Engle v Vitale

School-sponsered prayer

Banned school prayer

1st

Gideon v Wainright

Defendant denied a lawyer

Right to attorney in criminal cases

6th

New Jersey v. TLO

Student searched at school

Schools need reasonable suspicion not a probable cause

4th

Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier

School censored student newspaper

Schools can limit school-sponsered speech

1st

Griswold v Connecticut

Birth control banned

Established right to privacy

1st, 3rd, 4th, 9th

Miranda v. Arizona

Confession without rights explained

Required Miranda warnings

5th

Tinker v. Des Moines

Students are armbands protesting Vietnam war

Protected student speech unless disruptive

1st

NYT v. US

Government tried to stop publication of Pentagon Papers

Limited prior restraint

1st

Wisconsin v Yoder

Amish refused schooling after 16th

Protected religious freedom over state law

1st

Roe v Wade

Abortion restrictions challenged

Legalized abortion (later overturned)

14th

Dobbs v Jackson

Mississippi abortion law challenged

Overturned Roe; states decided abortion laws

10th

Morse v. Frederick

Student banner promoting drugs

Schools can restrict pro-drug speech

1st

Students for Fair Admission v Harvard

Affirmative action in admissions challenged

Limited race-based admission policies

14th

Oregon v Smith

Drug use claimed as a religious practice

Neutral laws can limit religious actions

1st

Shaw v. Reno

Racially drawn voting districts

Racial gerrymandering unconstitutional

14th

US v Lopez

Gun near school law challenged

Limited Congress’s commerce power

Commerce clause

Citizens united v. FEC

Limits on corporate political spending

Allowed unlimited independent spending

1st

McCutcheon v. FEC

Limits on total campaign donations

Struck down aggregate limits

1st

Obergefell v. Hodges

Same-sex marriage bans challenged

Legalized same-sex marriage nationwide

14th

Buckley v Valeo

Challenged FECA (federal election campaign act) to restrict campaign contributions and expenditures

Ruled that limitations on campaign spending was unconstitutional (limit free speech) but upheld campaign contributions

1st

NYT v. Sullivan

NYT published an ad by Martin Luther King Jr. supporters seeking funds for his defense and civil rights but the ad had inaccurate facts

Established that a state cannot award damages to a public official for defamatory falsehoods related to official conduct unless "actual malice" is proven

1st

Texas v. Johnson

Johnson was charged with burning an American flag, violating a Texas statute that forbids the
“desecration of a venerated object”

Form of symbolic speech (protected form of free speech)

1st

Chicago v. McDonald

McDonald wanted to own a handgun for his own protection against crime in his neighborhood

Chicago maintained a strict 1982 ordinance that banned handgun possession by requiring them to be registered, while simultaneously refusing to register new handguns, making it nearly impossible for residents to own them legally - found unconstitutional

2nd