Unit 4-5: Court Cases

Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

Bill of Rights was NOT applicable to the states.

Gitlow v. New York (1925)

Began the process of selective incorporation by using the 14th amendment to require states to recognize 1st amendment guarantees of freedom of speech.

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

prohibited mandatory, state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public schools.

Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

Created a 3-part "Test." Laws which aid religion must 1) have a "secular purpose", 2) neither advance nor inhibit religion, 3) avoid "excessive government entanglement with religion." Abandoned by SCOTUS in 2022.

Miller v. California (1973)

decision that 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.

Schenck v. United States (1919)

declared that government can limit speech if the speech provokes a "clear and present danger" of substantive evils.

Texas v. Johnson (1989)

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.

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

ruled that the fourth amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures must be extended to the states as well as to the federal government.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

If a defendant cannot afford an attorney the state must provide one. Incorporated the 6th amendment.

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

all defendants must be informed of legal rights before they are arrested.

Gregg v. Georgia (1976)

upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, stating that "it is an extreme sanction, suitable to the most extreme of crimes."

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Identified an implied right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution stating that various portions of the Bill of Rights cast "penumbras" (or shadows) of unstated liberties.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

decision holding that 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.

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

Incorporated the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms to the states by striking down a ban on handguns.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

decision that provided a constitutional justification for segregation by ruling that a Louisiana law requiring "equal but separate accommodations for the White and colored races" was constitutional.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

decision holding that school segregation was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. This case marked the end of legal segregation in the United States.

Hernandez v. Texas (1954)

Extended protection against discrimination to Hispanics by striking down a Texas policy that barred Hispanics from serving on juries.

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Court decision that upheld as constitutional for the interment of more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent in encampments during World War II.

Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez (1978)

the Court strengthened the tribal power of individual tribe members and furthered self-government by Indian tribes.

Reed v. Reed (1971)

landmark case in which the Supreme Court for the first time upheld a claim of gender discrimination by striking down an Idaho law that said men should always be "preferred" in parental cases.

Craig v. Boren (1976)

ruling wherein the Supreme Court established the "medium scrutiny" standard for determining gender discrimination.

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

Banned the use of race-based quotas for college admissions but allowed race to be considered as a fairly weighed element in the selection process.

Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)

struck down the University of Michigan's system of undergraduate admissions in which every applicant from an underrepresented racial or ethnic minority group was automatically given 20 points of the 100 needed for admission.

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Overturned Bowers v. Hardwick and declared a state law banning sodomy to be an unconstitutional intrusion on the right to privacy and a violation of the Equal Protection Clause as such laws were only enforced on homosexuals.

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

Struck down state bans on same sex marriage. The 14th Amendment requires States to license a marriage between two people regardless of sex.