AP Gov SCOTUS Cases

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

• Adams made last minute judicial appointments, but not all were delivered by the time Jefferson took Oath of Office. Jefferson ordered the outstanding appointment to be nullified

• One promised-appointee sues James Madison (Jefferson’s Secretary of State) for the appointment, claiming the Judiciary Act of 1789 allowed it.

Ruling and Significance: Marbury v. Madison (1803)

• Ruling: The Judiciary Act of 1789 is unconstitutional

• Significance: Reinforces judicial review

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

• Maryland felt the Bank was unconstitutional and didn’t want a branch operating within the state.

• The state legislature passed a law requiring banks that were not chartered within the state to pay a $15,000 tax

• The cashier of the Bank refused to pay, claiming that as an entity of the national government, the Bank of the US was supreme to the state of Maryland.

Ruling and Significance: McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

• Ruling:

  • Is the Bank of the US a constitutionally created entity? Yes.

  • Can a state tax an entity of the national government? No.

• Significance: Reinforces the Supremacy and Necessary and Proper Clauses.

Schenck v. United States (1919)

• Charles Schenck was distributing anti-war pamphlets which encouraged men to avoid registering for the draft.

• He was arrested and charged with treason

• He appealed the ruling, claiming that his First Amendment right to free speech was violated.

Ruling and Significance: Schenck v. United States (1919)

• Ruling: Was Schenck’s arrest and conviction a violation of his right to free speech? No.

• Significance: There are some forms of speech and expression which presents a “clear and present danger” to the safety of all Americans, and those forms of speech are not protected by the First Amendment.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• African American students were being denied admission to certain public schools based upon their race. They were not given relief in the lower courts, based on Plessy v. Ferguson (1898)

• Plessy established the separate but equal doctrine.

Ruling and Significance: Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• Ruling: Does segregation based solely upon race violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment? Yes

• Significance: Plessy v. Ferguson is overturned, all public facilities must desegregate.

Baker v. Carr (1961)

• The state of Tennessee has not reapportioned representative districts in over 50 years, despite major population shifts within the state.

• This was causing some citizens to over-represented, while others were being vastly under-represented, leading citizens to sue the state of Tennessee to force them to redraw the district lines.

• Their claim was that their 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law was being violated

Ruling and Significance: Baker v. Carr (1961)

• Ruling: Does the Supreme Court have jurisdiction over questions of legislative reapportionment? Yes

• Significance: Federal courts can intervene to solve issues of judicial reapportionment.

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

• The New York State Board of Regents authorized a short, voluntary prayer to be recited at the beginning of school each day.

• A group of organizations challenged the prayer, citing it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Ruling and Significance: Engel v. Vitale (1962)

• Ruling: Does the reading of a nondenominational prayer at the start of the school day violate the "establishment of religion" clause of the First Amendment? Yes

• Significance: The state cannot hold prayers in public schools, even if participation is not required and the prayer is not tied to a particular region

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

• Clarence Gideon was charged in the state of Florida with breaking and entering.

• At his court date, he asked an attorney be provided for him.

• Florida only provided attorneys for defendants who were indigent and charged with capital murder.

• Gideon represented himself, was found guilty, and sentenced to five years in prison.

• He filed a habeas corpus petition, claiming his Sixth Amendment right to representation by counsel was violated.

Ruling and Significance: Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

• Ruling: Does the Sixth Amendment's right to counsel in criminal cases extend to felony defendants in state courts? Yes

• Significance: The Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a right to assistance of counsel applies to criminal defendants in state court by way of the Fourteenth Amendment.

  • Incorporation Doctrine

  • Everyone charged with a felony, who can prove indigence, is provided with an attorney by the state

Tinker v. Des Moines (1968)

• A group of students in the Des Moines ISD planned to wear black armbands to school to protest continued American involvement in the Vietnam War

• The principals learned of the plan and said that any student who participates will be suspended.

• Through their parents, the students sued the school district for violating their freedom of expression

Ruling and Significance: Tinker v. Des Moines (1968)

• Ruling: Does a prohibition against the wearing of armbands in public school, as a form of symbolic protest, violate the students' freedom of speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment? Yes

• Significance: “Speech” is not just the spoken word, but actions of expression as well

New York Times v. United States (1971)

• The Nixon Administration attempted to prevent the New York Times from publishing materials that were a part of a classified Department of Defense study about American involvement in the Vietnam War.

• The Administration argued that ‘prior restraint’ was
  necessary to protect national security.

  • Prior restraint = censorship

Ruling and Significance: New York Times v. United States (1971)

• Ruling: Did the Nixon administration's efforts to prevent the publication of what it termed "classified information" violate the First Amendment? Yes

• Significance: strengthens freedom of the press

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

• The State of Wisconsin prosecuted families of the Old Order Amish community under a law that required all children to attend school until the age of 16.

• These families were refusing to send their children to school after the eighth grade, claiming it violated their religious beliefs.

Ruling and Significance: Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

• Ruling: Did Wisconsin's requirement that all parents send their children to school at least until age 16 violate the First Amendment by criminalizing the conduct of parents who refused to send their children to school for religious reasons? Yes

• Significance: The Court 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.

  • Noted significance of Amish communities producing productive
    members of society

Roe v. Wade (1973)

• Jane Roe (a fictional name used in court documents to protect the plaintiff’s identity) filed a lawsuit against Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, where she resided, a Texas law making abortion illegal except by a doctor’s orders to save a woman’s life.

• In her lawsuit, Roe alleged that the state laws were unconstitutionally vague and abridged her right of personal privacy, protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

• NOTE: The “right to privacy” is not specifically included in the Bill of Rights. This is an IMPLIED right, according to the Court.
  

Ruling and Significance: Roe v. Wade (1973)

• Ruling: Does the Constitution recognize a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy by abortion? Yes

• Significance: This is an example of an “activist ruling”

  • The Court rules that the “right to privacy” is implied throughout
    the Bill of Rights

  • Women can decide to have an abortion during the first twelve weeks of her pregnancy

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

• The U.S. Attorney General rejected a North Carolina congressional reapportionment because the plan created only one black-majority district.

• A second plan was submitted, this time with two black-majority districts.

• A group of North Carolinians sued, claiming the shape of the district was so construed that it was clearly created only to create more opportunities for black representatives to be elected

• Their claim was that the districts were gerrymandered.

Ruling and Significance: Shaw v. Reno (1993)

• Ruling: Did the North Carolina residents' claim, that the State created a racially gerrymandered district, raise a valid constitutional issue under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause? Yes

• Significance: States cannot create congressional districts for the purpose of establishing a minority-majority.

United States v. Lopez (1995)

• Alfonzo Lopez was a senior at a San Antonio high school who brought a concealed weapon onto the grounds of the school.

• He was charged under a Texas law, but the charges were dropped and federal charges were brought against him for violating the 1990 Gun Free School Zone Act.

• He was convicted, and appealed that the law, which made guns in a school zone a federal crime through the Commerce Clause was unconstitutional.
  

Ruling and Significance: United States v. Lopez (1995)

• Ruling: Is the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act, forbidding individuals from knowingly carrying a gun in a school zone, unconstitutional because it exceeds the power of Congress to legislate under the Commerce Clause? Yes

• Significance: This is one of the only SCOTUS rulings to limit the power of the federal government through the Commerce Clause

  • This is an example of the Rehnquist Court practicing ‘New Federalism’

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

• Citizens of Chicago filed a suit against the state, claiming the laws in Chicago and Oak Park which banned guns were a violation of their Second Amendment rights, and that the 2nd Amendment should also apply to the states.

Ruling and Significance: McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

• Ruling: Does the Second Amendment apply to the states because it is incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment's Privileges and Immunities or Due Process clauses and thereby made applicable to the states? Yes

• Significance: The Bill of Rights is applicable to the States through the 14th Amendment

Citizens United v. SEC (2010)

• Citizens United sought an injunction against the FEC to prevent the application of BCRA to their film Hillary: The Movie

Ruling and Significance: Citizens United v. SEC (2010)

• Ruling: Do the BCRA's disclosure requirements impose an unconstitutional burden when applied to electioneering requirements because they are protected "political speech" and not subject to regulation as "campaign speech"? No

• If a communication lacks a clear plea to vote for or against a particular candidate, is it subject to regulation under the BCRA? Yes

• Significance: Businesses funding independent political broadcasts are not subject to campaign finance regulations