AP Gov Ch 4 Supreme Court Cases

Barron v. Baltimore, 1833

The SC decision holding that the Bill of Rights restrained only the national government, not the states and cities

Gitlow v. New York, 1925

 state governments must respect some first amendment rights

Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971

declared that aid to church-related schools must 

• Have a secular legislative purpose 

• Have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion 

• Not foster an excessive government “entanglement” with religion

Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, 2002

upheld a state providing families with vouchers that could be used to pay for tuition at religious schools

Engel v. Vitale, 1962

SC decision holding that state officials violated the First Amendment when they wrote a prayer to be recited by New York’s schoolchildren

School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp, 1063

holding that Pennsylvania law requiring Bible reading in schools violated the establishment clause of the first amendment

Edwards v. Aguillard, 1963

SC rejected Louisiana's requirement to teach Creation Science

Near v. Minnesota, 1931

SC decision holding that the First Amendment protects newspapers from prior restraint

Schenck v. United States, 1919

upheld the conviction of a socialist who had urged young men to resist the draft during WWI. Justice Holmes declared that government can limit speech if the speech provokes a “clear and present danger” of substantive evils

Branzburg v. Hayes, 1972

reporters cannot protect their sources & are not granted a special privilege to refuse to testify before a grand jury

Zurcher v. Stanford, 1976

a proper search warrant could be applied to a newspaper as well as to anyone else without necessarily violating the first amendment rights to freedom of the press 

• First Amendment does not protect the news media from searches of their offices for evidence of a crime

Roth v. United States, 1957

ruled that “obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press”

Miller v. California, 1973

avoided defining obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene in terms of appealing to a “prurient interest” and being "patently offensive” and lacking in value

New York Times v. Sullivan, 1964

statements about public figures are only libelous only if made with malice and reckless disregard for the truth

Texas v. Johnson, 1989

SC struck down a law banning the burning of the American flag on the grounds that such action was symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment

NAACP v. Alabama, 1954

SC protected the right to assemble peaceably in this 1958 case when it decided the NAACP did not have to reveal its membership list and thus subject its members to harassment

Mapp v. Ohio, 1961

the fourth amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures must extend to the states as well as to the federal gov

Miranda v. Arizona, 1966

sets guidelines for police questioning of accused persons to protect themselves against self incrimination and to protect their right to counsel

Gideon v. Wainwright, 1963

anyone accused of a felony where imprisonment may be imposed, however poor he or she might be, has a right to a lawyer

Gregg v. Georgia, 1976

upheld constitutionality of the death penalty, stating that “It is an extreme sanction, suitable to the most extreme of crimes.” (did not believe death sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment)

McCleskey v. Kemp, 1987

upheld constitutionality of the death penalty against charges that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment because minority defendants were more likely to receive the death penalty than were white defendants

Roe v. Wade, 1973

a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional. The decision forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother’s health in the second trimester, and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester

Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 1992

SC loosened its standard for evaluating restrictions on abortion from one of “strict scrutiny” of any restraints on a “fundamental right” to  one of “undue burden” that permits considerably more regulation

Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965

strike down a state law that banned the use of contraceptives by married couples and to establish that the Constitution protects a right to marital privacy

Lynch v. Donelly, 1984

a city’s Christmas display including a nativity scene did not violent the establishment clause of the first amendment

Osborne v. Ohio, 1991

states can criminalize the private possession of child pornography

United States v. O'Brien, 1968

established a test for determining when laws can regulate “symbolic speech” without violating the first amendment 

• Ex cannot burn a draft card to protest the vietnam war

Woodson v. North Carolina, 1976

rules mandatory death penalties for first-degree murder unconstitutional