Landmark Court Cases

1. The Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had the authority to relocate Japanese Americans to designated areas as a necessary response to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

2. The Supreme Court ruled that school officials did not violate a student’s free speech and due process rights when disciplined for making a lewd and vulgar speech at a school assembly.

3. The Supreme Court held that a person cannot be held in police custody unless told their specific rights.

4. Held that a state law that discriminated against women was unconstitutional.

5. The principal removed articles about pregnancy and divorce from the school newspaper. A state court upheld a decision from a teacher who claimed it as a violation of first amendment rights; the Supreme Court overturned the decision in favor of the principal.

6. The Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution because it is inherently unequal.

7. Court rules for the first time that poor defendants in criminal cases have the right to a state paid attorney under the 6th amendment.

8. The Supreme Court upheld earlier decisions establishing the doctrine of prior restraint.  The doctrine protects the press from government attempts to block publication.

9. The Supreme Court held that it is the Court itself that has the final say on what the Constitution means, which is known as Judicial Review.

10. The Supreme Court determined that evidence obtained through a search that violates the Fourth Amendment is inadmissible.

11. This decision upheld the separate-but-equal doctrine used by Southern states to perpetuate segregation following the Civil War.

12. Ruled that the freedom of speech protection in the First Amendment could be restricted if the words spoken or printed represented to society a “clear and present danger.”

13. This Court decision halted the death penalty in the 39 states that had death penalty laws at the time. The Court explained that existing death penalty laws did not give juries enough guidance on death penalty cases.

14. The Supreme Court decided against the rigid use of racial quotas, but also established race as permissible criteria among several others.

15. Name the TWO Supreme Court Cases that held flag burning as expressive speech protected by the first amendment.

16. The Supreme Court held that only those presidential conversations and communications that relate to performing the duties of the office of president are confidential.

17. Ruled that speedy and fair trials are required in state and federal courts; the case was based on the story of a professor who had participated in sit-ins during the civil rights movement.

18. The Court held that enslaved African Americans were property, not citizens, and thus had no rights under the Constitution. This decision also overturned the Missouri Compromise.

19. This case expanded the scope of political speech unless it is linked to immediate lawless behavior.

20. The Supreme Court established more lenient standards for reasonable in school searches.

21. The Supreme Court ruled that a public school could not suspend students who wore black armbands to symbolize their opposition to the Vietnam War due to the students’ first amendment rights.

22. The Supreme Court ruled that females have a constitutional right under various provisions of the Constitution - like the due process clause - to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.

23. The Court ruled that since the manual recount had no uniform way to judge each disputed vote equally, it violated the Constitution and had to be stopped.

24. Ruled that a public school starting the day with prayer was unconstitutional.

25. Established supremacy of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws over state laws.

26. Held that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the right to marry, and it applies to same-sex couples in the same manner as it does to opposite-sex couples.

27. Ruled that laws banning interracial marriage violate the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

28. Held that the Constitution of the United States does not confer a right to abortion, thus overturning the court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade and returning the issue of abortion back to the states.

29. A controversial decision that reversed century-old campaign finance restrictions and enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited funds on elections.

30. Ruled that students could be required to participate in drug tests in order to participate in school events.