American Govt Chapter 15 Court Cases

McDonald v. Chicago

2nd amendment applies for the 14th amendment due process clause

Tyson Timbs v. Indiana

8th amendment protection against excessive fines applies for states

Schenck v. U.S.

clear and present danger test, order was threaten

Brandenburg v. Ohio

KKK march, no real threat

Cohen v. California

Symbolic expresssion, can only ban fighting words when directed at someone

Texas v. Johnson

Flag burning protected

Miller v. California

Obscenity is excluded from constitutional protection

Jenkins v. Georgia

SC overturned a ruling over the film Carnal Knowledge

Reno v. American Civil Liberties

SC struck down overly broad provisions of the 1996 Communications Decency Act which attempted to protect minors from access to “patently offensive” or “indecent” material

Nationalist Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie

held that promoting religious hatred is protected by the first amendment

Matal v. Tam

racially offensive speech is allowed

Griswold v. Connecticut

SC asserted that the Bill of Rights created a “zone of privacy” that gave individuals the right to make choices regarding sexual reproduction

Roe v. Wade

SC ruled that a woman’s right to seek an abortion during the first three months of her pregnancy rests on the right to privacy

Lawrence v. Texas

SC struck down anti-sodomy laws in every state and territory using the right to privacy and equal protection clauses

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization

Court said procuring an abortion is not a fundamental constitutional right because it “has no basis in the Constitution’s text or our Nation’s history”

Lemon v. Kurtzman

To pass constitutional muster, laws must pass each part of the “Lemon” test

Agostini v. Felton

created a new standard that the 1st amend only requires govt neutrality

Engle v. Vitale

SC ruled that state approval of a prayer was an unconstitutional attempt to establish a religion

Wallace v. Jaffree

SC has banned silent meditation (moment of silence) when the law has a religious purpose

Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe

Invalidated prayers prior to high school games said over the intercom before a school-gathered audience

Sherbert v. Verner

SC found that the denial of unemployment compensation because of religious practices violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments

Wisconsin v. Yoder

SC held that individual's interests in the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment outweighed the State's interests in compelling school attendance beyond the eighth grade

Reynolds v. U.S.

SC ruled that Mormons were not exempt from polygamy law

Employment Division v. Smith

SC ruled that religious beliefs do not exempt one from following otherwise valid law

Gonzalez v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal

Federal govt. seized sacramental tea containing hoasca, a banned substance