AP Government Court Cases

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

• Article III- Judicial Review

• The Supreme Court is allowed to nullify an act of the legislative or executive branch that violates the Constitution

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

• Elastic Clause (Necessary and Proper Clause)/ Supremacy Clause

• Established supremacy of the US Constitution and federal laws over state laws

Schenck v. United States (1919)

• First Amendment Free Speech

• Speech creating a “clear and present danger” is not protected

Brown v. Board of Education I (1954)

• 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause

• Raced based segregation is illegal

Baker v. Carr (1961)

• 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause

• Established “one man, one vote” and opens door to courts to reviewing redistricting challenges

Engle v. Vitale (1962)

• 1st Amendment Establishment Clause

• Schools cannot sponsor religious activities. No state sponsored prayer

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

• Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel

• Guarantee of an attorney for the poor or indigent

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)

• First Amendment- Freedom of Speech (Symbolic Speech)

• Public school students have the right to wear black armbands in school to protest the Vietnam War because it does not cause a disruption

New York Times Co. V. United States (1971)

• First Amendment- Freedom of Press

• Establishes a “heavy presumption against prior restraint” even in cases involving national security

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

• First Amendment- Free Exercise Clause

• Cannot compel Amish students to attend school past the eighth grade

Roe v. Wade (1973)

• Due Process Clause and 9th Amendment implied right of privacy (establish through Griswold v. CT)

• Protects the right of a woman to have an abortion

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

• 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause

• Legislative redistricting must be conscious of race

United States v. Lopez (1995)

• Commerce Clause

• Congress may not use the commerce clause to make possession of a gun in a school zone a federal crime

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

• 14th Amendment due process clause, Privileges and Immunities Clause, 2nd amendment

• Right to keep and bear arms for self-defense applies to the states

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

• 1st Amendment Free Speech

• Political spending by corporations, associations, and labor unions is protected and cannot be limited by law; Money = Speech