Ap Gov Court Cases (NON-REQUIRED)

 

Baker v. Carr (1962)

 

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Case Precedent: Ruled that the judicial branch of government can rule on matters of legislative apportionment. Established the principle of "one person, one vote."

 

Brown v. Board of Education I (1954)

Case Precedent: Ruled that racially segregated schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

 

Brown v. Board of Education II (1955)

Case Precedent: Supreme Court embraced in its first desegregation decision and urged localities to act on the new principles promptly and to move toward full compliance with them "with all deliberate speed."

 

Bush v. Gore (2000)

Case Precedent: Court ruled that manual recounts of presidential ballots in the 2000 election could not proceed because inconsistent evaluation standards in different counties violated the equal protection clause. 

 

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

Case Precedent: Ruling that tossed out the corporate and union ban on making independent expenditures and financing electioneering communications. It gave corporations and unions the green light to spend unlimited sums on ads and other political tools, calling for the election or defeat of individual candidates.

 

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Case Precedent: Ruled that African-Americans were not citizens and therefore could not petition the Supreme Court.

 

Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)

Case Precedent: The Court used a two-pronged test to evaluate speech acts: speech can be prohibited if it is "directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action" and it is "likely to incite or produce such action."

 

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

Case Precedent: Campaign spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, subject to restrictions on campaign contributions by individuals. 

 

DC v. Heller (2008)

Case Precedent: Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms for lawful use, such as self-defense, in the home 

 

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

Case Precedent: School sponsorship of religious activities violates the establishment clause. 

 

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Case Precedent: Guaranteed the right to an attorney for the poor or indigent.

 

Gitlow v. New York (1925)

Case Precedent: Established precedent for the doctrine of selective incorporation, thus extending most of the requirements of the Bill of Rights to the states. 

 

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Case Precedent: Ruled that a state law criminalizing the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy. 

 

Heart of Atlanta Motel v. US (1964)

Case Precedent: Case holding that the U.S. Congress could use the power granted to it by the Constitution's Commerce Clause to force private businesses to abide by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

 

Korematsu v. US (1944)

Case Precedent: Upheld the constitutionality of the relocation of Japanese Americans as a wartime necessity. 

 

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Case Precedent: The Court held that a state statute making it a crime for two persons of the same sex to engage in certain intimate sexual conduct violates the Due Process Clause.

Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

Case Precedent: Ruled that state aid to church-related schools must be clearly secular, the government's action must neither advance nor inhibit religion, and the government action must not foster an "excessive entanglement" between government and religion.

 

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Case Precedent: Ruled that all evidence obtained by searches and seizures in violation of the Constitution is, by the Fourth Amendment, inadmissible in a state court.

 

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Case Precedent: Established the principle of judicial review. Strengthened the power of the judicial branch by giving the Supreme Court the authority to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.

 

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Case Precedent: Established supremacy of the US Constitution and federal laws over state laws.

 

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

Case Precedent: Supreme court found that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms" as protected under the Second Amendment is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment against the states.

 

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Case Precedent: Ruled that the police must inform criminal suspects of their constitutional rights before questioning suspects after arrest.

 

New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985)

Case Precedent: 4th amendment protects against unreasonable searches, but schools can perform these searches; girl has drugs in her purse, school searches it and finds it, she tries to claim its unconstitutional, Supreme Court says search is reasonable because of reasonable suspicion and probable cause.

 

New York Times Co. v. US (1971)

Case Precedent: Bolstered the freedom of the press, establishing a "heavy presumption against prior restraint" even in cases involving national security.

 

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

Case Precedent: Court ruled that states must both recognize same-sex marriages from other states, and provide licenses within the state.

 

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Case Precedent: Upheld Jim Crow segregation by approving "separate but equal" public facilities for African-Americans.

 

Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)

Case Precedent: Court ruled a Pennsylvania law that would have required a woman to notify her husband before getting an abortion was thrown out, but laws calling for parental consent and the imposition of a 24-hour waiting period were upheld. States can regulate abortion but not with regulations that impose an "undue burden" upon. women.

 

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)

Case Precedent: Ruled that race could be used as one factor among others in the competition for available places.

 

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Case Precedent: Ruled that the decision to obtain an abortion is protected by the right to privacy implied by the Bill of Rights.

 

Schenck v. US (1919)

Case Precedent: Ruled that free speech could be limited when it presents a "clear and present danger”.

 

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

Case Precedent: Court ruled that racial gerrymandering-invalidated the district because boundaries were neither contiguous nor compact and were drawn with the intent to discriminate using racial gerrymandering. The court ruled that any racial gerrymandering by the state required a compelling state interest.

 

Texas v. Johnson (1989)

Case Precedent: Ruled that flag burning is a form of symbolic speech protected by the 1st Amendment. 

 

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community Schools (1969)

Case Precedent: Protected some forms of symbolic speech. Ruled that students do not " shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." 

 

US v. Lopez (1995)

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

 

US v. Nixon (1974)

Case Precedent: Ruled that there is no constitutional guarantee of non-qualified executive privilege. 

 

West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)

Case Precedent: Court ruled that compelling public schoolchildren to salute the flag was unconstitutional. Justices argued that "[i]f there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."

 

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

Case Precedent: Compelling Amish students to attend school past the eight grade violates the free exercise clause of the 1st Amendment.