AP GoPo Study Guide

Required SCOTUS Cases

1. Marbury v. Madison (1803)

• Essential Fact: William Marbury was denied a presidential appointment, made by John Adams as part of the “midnight judges” and confirmed by the senate, because the new president’s secretary, Madison, refused to deliver the appointment to new president Thomas Jefferson

• Constitutional Issue: Can the Supreme Court declare a legislative act (the Judiciary Act of 1789) unconstitutional because of its requirement to bring the case to the Supreme Court using the original jurisdiction doctrine?

• Decision: the court established its role as the arbiter of the constitutionality of federal laws (judicial review)

2. Baker v. Carr (1961)

• Essential Fact: Charles Baker challenged Tennessee’s appointment law, claiming that when reapportionment was done by the state legislature it did not take into account population shifts that favored rural areas

• Constitutional Issue: Can federal courts decide the political issue of state apportionment procedures?

• Decision: The Supreme Court reformulated the political question doctrine of whether districts were apportioned for political reasons, identifying 6 factors to help in determining which questions were political in nature. The principle of “one man, one vote” was established and the Supreme Court ruled to have jurisidiction over questions of legislative reapportionment

3. Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

• Essential Fact: Citizens United is a conservation 501© 4 non-profit organization that challenged the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Finance Act decision to prevent the group from financing a negative movie about Hilary Clinton

• Constitutional Issue: Whether the Supreme Court’s previous rulings and the BCPFA apply to non-profits, or are those organizations protected by the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause in relation to supporting political issues?

• Decision: The entire dynamic of campaign finance law was changed, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment prohibits the government from limiting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions (Essentially - corporations are basically people and can therefore be political without consequence)

4. Schenck v. United States (1918)

• Essential Fact: Schenck pointed printed and distributed materials advocating for a peaceful resistance to the WWI U.S draft. He was tried and convicted for violating the Espionage Act

• Constitutional Issue: Did the government have the right to censor material in a time of national emergency?

• Decision: The Supreme Court ruled that due to a “clear and present danger”, Schenck’s actions were not protected under free speech. Justice Oliver Holmes compared this to yelling fire in a crowded theater

5. Tinker v. Des Moines (1968)

• Essential Fact: Students were suspended when they wore black armbands as a symbol of protest against the Vietnam War

• Constitutional Issue: Were the students’ First Amendment free speech rights violated by the school district for protesting while using symbolic speech?

• Decision: The Supreme Court ruled that students could wear the armbands as a “legitimate form of symbolic speech”, as students’ rights are “not shed at the schoolhouse gate”

6. New York Times v. United States (1971)

• Essential Fact: The New York Times printed the Pentagon Papers, a secret study of the Vietnam War. The government attempted to halt the publication, claiming it would injure national security

• Constitutional Issue: Was the New York Times protected by the First Amendment’s free press even in a case where the government declares the material to be essential to national security?

• Decision: The Supreme Court ruled the government did not have the right to prevent the publication, as it was a violation of the New York Times’ First Amendment rights

7. Engel v. Vitale (1962)

• Essential Fact: Students in a public high school refused to recite a nondenominational prayer that started with the words, “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence on thee”

• Constitutional Issue: Whether the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment was violated by New York because it made recitation of the prayer mandatory

• Decision: The Supreme Court that prayer in public schools could not be mandated because of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause

8. Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

• Essential Fact: Wisconsin had a law mandating school attendance for everybody past the 8th grade. Amish parents refused to send their children to school past 8th grade for religious reasons

• Constitutional Issue: Did the state law violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment?

• Decision: The Supreme Court ruled that a state could not force Amish children to attend school past the 8th grade because it was against their religion and therefore violated the free exercise clause

9. McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

• Essential Fact: Chicago maintained its gun-control laws after the Supreme Court ruled in DC v. Heller that the Second Amendment gave an individual the right to bear arms

• Constitutional Issue: Whether or not Chicago violated the 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause

• Decision: The Due Process Clause ensures that the 2nd Amendment is the right of an individual to keep and bear arms is applied to the states as well

  10. Gideon v. Walnwright (1963)

      • Essential Fact: Gideon was refused the right to have an attorney after he ribbed a pool hall because in Florida, lawyers were only provided in capital cases. He was then tried and had to defend himself

      • Constitutional Issue: Was Gideon’s 6th Amendment right to an attorney violated?

      • Decision: The Supreme Court upheld the 6th Amendment right to an attorney and overturned Betts v. Brady

  11. Roe v. Wade (1973)

• Essential Fact: “Roe” wanted to terminate her pregnancy by having an abortion, but Texas law prohibited abortions except in the case of endangerment to the mother’s life

• Constitutional Issue: Did a right to privacy previously established in a Supreme Court case and the 4th Amendment give Roe the right to an abortion?

• Decision: The Supreme Court ruled that women have an absolute right to abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy based on a constitutionally protected right to privacy, though a state can pose restrictions on the second and third trimesters

  12. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• Essential Fact: Brown was forced to attend segregated schools that the state claimed were “separate but equal”

• Constitutional Issue: Did the state violate Brown’s equal protection as established in the 14th Amendment?

• Decision: The Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, stating that “separate but equal” is inherently unequal and race-based segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause. Schools were forced to integrate

  13. Shaw v. Reno (1993)

• Essential Fact: After North Carolina created three minority-majority districts when the U.S attorney general sued the state for creating one gerrymandered district, ensuring that a black candidate would win, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was used to challenge how the districts were created

• Constitutional Issue: Whether the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment mandated that legislative redistricting must use race as one of the factors to ensure minority representation

• Decision: The Supreme Court reversed the lower-court decision, stating that the “bizarre” shape of the new district “bears an uncomfortable resemblance to political apartheid.” The court also ruled that race could be used to make districts that were racially balanced

  14. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

• Essential Fact: Maryland imposed a state tax on the U.S National Bank in Maryland

• Constitutional Issue: Whether the Necessary and Proper/Elastic Clause enabled the U.S to create a national bank and whether Maryland had the right to tax it

• Decision: The Supreme Court ruled that a state does not have the right to tax a federal institution, finding that “the power to tax is the power to destroy.” Confirmed the Supremacy Clause and the power to create a national bank under the Elastic Clause

  15. U.S v. Lopez (1995)

• Essential Fact: The U.S Congress passed the Gun-Free School Zone Act, which made the possession of a gun within a thousand yards of a school a federal crime

• Constitutional Issue: Did Congress overstep its Commerce Clause authority in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution?

• Decision: The Supreme Court held that enforcement of such an act comes under the authority of the states

Constitutional Amendments

1. Freedom of speech, press, petition, religion, and assembly

2. Right to keep and bear arms

3. No peacetime quartering of troops

4. Freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures

5. Rights of the accused, including due process of law, grand jury indictment, protection from double jeopardy, and protection from self-incrimination

6. Rights of the accused, including a speedy trial, impartial peer jury, witnesses on your behalf, right to an attorney, right to know who accused you and for what

7. Right to a speedy trial by jury in civil cases

8. No excessive bail/fines and no cruel and unusual punishment

9. Rights not mentioned in the Constitution are retained by the people

10. All powers not given to the national government are reserved for the states/people

11. Judicial limits- you can’t sue a state through a federal court system

12. electors vote separately for president and vice president

13. freedom of slaves and abolishment of slavery

14. declares all citizens entitled to equal rights regardless of race at both the state and national level

15. reserves citizens the right to vote regardless of race

16. government’s right to tax income

17. establishes popular voting as the way to elect senators

18. denies the sale and consumption of alcohol

19. women’s voting rights

20. establishes term starts for Congress and the President (January 20)

21. repeals the 18th amendment

22. limits president to 2 terms in office

23. reserves the rights of citizens in DC to vote for their own electors for presidential elections

24. citizens cannot be denied voting rights for not paying a poll tax

25. procedures for succession of president

26. lowers voting age to 18

27. congress salaries

Required Documents

1. Federalist no. 10 (1787)

• Author: James Madison

• Summary: argued that the formation of several factions (political parties) provides the country with diversity and protects minority rights by forcing compromise. Essentially, the more groups there are, the less likely tyranny is to occur

2. Federalist no. 51 (1788)

• Author: James Madison

• Summary: argued that the federal government is limited in power through the system of checks and balanced embedded within the three branches

  3. Federalist no. 70 (1788)

• Author: Alexander Hamilton

• Summary: addressed issues of a singular leader and proposed in the U.S Constitution and fear of tyranny. Argued that there was a need for a strong executive leader especially in times of war and crisis. Argued that having a weak leader/leaders in charge ran the risk of different opinions and inefficiency in times of need. Also argued that a single executive would be watched be closely than a group of executives with shared power

  4. Federalist no. 78 (1788)

• Author: Alexander Hamilton

• Summary: defined the purpose and need of an independent judiciary and established it as the weakest branch in the Constitution’s proposed three-branch system. Explained why judges should get office for life- to protect them from politcal pressures Congress and/or the President

  5. Brutus no. 1 (1787)

• Author: Robert Yates

• Summary: argued that the Constitution gave the federal government too much power and that power of the state governments would become nullified. Also claimed that the legislative branch’s power was unlimited, and this was a threat to newfound individual liberty

  6. Letters from Birmingham Jail (1963)

• Author: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Summary: explained the importance and value of nonviolent action to resist racism and injustice. MLK encouraged individuals to perform peaceful acts of civil disobediance by refusing to follow laws specifically designed to support segregation and discrimination. He argued that individuals had a moral obligation to break these unjust laws rather than wait for justice