SCOTUS Essential Questions

Baker v. Carr

Do federal courts have the power to decide cases about the apportionment of population into state legislative districts?

Brown v. Board of Education

Does segregation of public schools by race violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment?

Citizens United v. FEC

Does a law that limits the ability of corporations and labor unions to spend their own money to advocate the election or defeat of a candidate violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech?

Engle v. Vitale

Does the recitation of a prayer in public schools violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment?

Gideon v. Wainwright

Does the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel in criminal cases extend to defendants in state courts, even in cases in which the death penalty is not at issue?

Marbury v. Madison

Does Marbury have a right to his commission, and can he sue the federal government for it? Does the Supreme Court have the authority to order the delivery of the commission?

McCulloch v. Maryland

Did Congress have the authority under the Constitution to commission a national bank? If so, did the state of Maryland have the authority to tax a branch of the national bank operating within its borders?

McDonald v. City of Chicago

Does the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms apply to state and local governments through the 14th Amendment and thus limit Chicago’s ability to regulate guns?

New York Time Co. v. U.S

Did the government’s efforts to prevent two newspapers from publishing classified information given to them by a government leaker violate the First Amendment protection of freedom of the press?

Schneck v. U.S.

Did Schenck’s conviction under the Espionage Act for criticizing the draft violate his First Amendment free speech rights?

Shaw v. Reno

Did the North Carolina residents’ claim that the 1990 redistricting plan discriminated on the basis of race raise a valid constitutional issue under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause?

Tinker v. Des Moines

Does a prohibition against the wearing of armbands in public school, as a form of symbolic speech, violate the students’ freedom of speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment?

United States v. Lopez

Did Congress have the power to pass the Gun Free School Zones Act?

Wisconsin v. Yonder

Under what conditions does the state’s interest in promoting compulsory education override parents’ First Amendment right to free exercise of religion?