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| Important Court Cases you should know for the Regents can be divided into 4 categories: | 1) Cases that expanded the power of the federal gov't, 2) Cases that expanded the rights of individuals, 3) Cases which limited individual rights, 4) Cases which dealt with the power of the gov't |
| Marbury v. Madison: 1803 | Adam’s Midnight Appointment of Judges, Court rules this is unconstitutional: shows the power of Judicial Review |
| McCulloch v. Maryland 1819 | State of Maryland tries to tax the National Bank of the US- Court rules its unconstitutional citing the “Supremacy clause” States can’t tax national gov’t agencies |
| Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 1831 | Cherokees sue against settlers coming onto their land- Court rules they have no jurisdiction because the Cherokee are a separate nation, not US citizens have no right to sue. |
| Dred Scott v. Sanford 1857 | Slave taken by owner into free territory, sues for his freedom. Court rules he is property and has no grounds to sue- he will remain a slave, allows slavery to spread unchecked across the US. |
| Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 | Plessy is 1/8th black and arrested for sitting in a whites only train car. Court rules: separate but equal doctrine IS constitutional- starts Jim Crow laws and legalized segregation |
| Korematsu v. US 1944 | Japanese sue against their internment during WWII, Court rules: civil liberties can be limited by gov’t in times of war |
| Brown v. Bd of Ed Topeka, KS 1954 | Black family sues regarding “Separate but equal doctrine”- regarding daughter going to segregated school. Court rules: reverses Plessy decision, desegregates public places |
| Mapp v. Ohio 1961 | Mapp was suspected of housing a bomber. Police search her home without a warrant and find obscene material. Court Rules: conviction overturned on the grounds that her 4th amendment rights were violated |
| Baker v. Carr 1962 | Case over voting and the redistricting of legislative districts in Tennessee based on the population. It was argued that population had shifted and TN had not been redistricted since 1901. Court Rules: 1 person 1 vote |
| Engle v. Vitale 1962 | Prayer in schools. NY Schools required a prayer to be said each morning. Jewish family argued this goes against the 1st amendment. Court ruled in favor of family- schools cannot require prayer. |
| Gibbons v. Ogden | Regulates interstate commerce (trading between two states) |
| Gideon v. Wainwright 1963 | Holding: you have the right to an attorney and one must be provided if you cannot afford one. Gideon was accused of robbing a pool hall. He petitioned the judge to provide him with an attorney free of charge. The judge denied his request. The Supreme Court ruled for Gideon, saying that the Sixth Amendment requires poor criminal defendants to be provided an attorney free of charge. |
| Escobedo v. Illinois 1964 | Escobedo was implicated in his brother in law’s murder and taken in for questioning. He requested multiple times to see his lawyer and was denied. Court ruled: criminal suspects have a right to counsel during police interrogations under the Sixth Amendment |
| Miranda v. Arizona 1966 | Holding: Police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning. After hours of police interrogations, Ernesto Miranda confessed to rape and kidnapping. At trial, he sought to suppress his confession, stating that he was not advised of his rights to counsel and to remain silent. The Supreme Court agreed, holding that police must inform suspects of their rights before questioning.5th amendment |
| Tinker vs. Des Moines 1969 | Holding: Students do not leave their rights at the schoolhouse door.To protest the Vietnam War, Mary Beth Tinker and her brother wore black armbands to school. Fearing a disruption, the administration prohibited wearing such armbands. The Tinkers were removed from school when they failed to comply, but the Supreme Court ruled that their actions were protected by the First Amendment. |
| The NY Times vs. US 1971 | 1st amendment: The ruling made it possible for The New York Times and The Washington Post newspapers to publish the then-classified Pentagon Papers without risk of government censorship or punishment |
| Roe v. Wade 1974 | The Court ruled that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides a fundamental "right to privacy" that protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose whether or not to have an abortion. |
| US v. Nixon 1974 | Holding: The President is not above the law. The special prosecutor in the Watergate affair subpoenaed audio tapes of Oval Office conversations. President Nixon refused to turn over the tapes, asserting executive privilege. The Supreme Court ruled that the defendants' right to potentially exculpating evidence outweighed the President's right to executive privilege if national security was not compromised. |
| Bakke v. The Regents of the University of CA- 1978 | Bakke was not admitted to medical school despite having higher scores than minority students. The Supreme Court upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. |
| NJ v. TLO 1985 | A teacher accused T.L.O. of smoking in the bathroom. When she denied the allegation, the principal searched her purse and found cigarettes and marijuana paraphernalia. A family court declared T.L.O. a delinquent. The Supreme Court ruled that her rights were not violated since students have reduced expectations of privacy in school. 4th amendment: search and seizure |
| Vernonia School District v. Action 1995 | In response to drug use, this school district in Oregon required random drug testing of all of it’s athletes. A student who’s parents refused to sign the consent form, was barred from playing sports- and sued on the grounds that his 4th amendment rights were being violated. Issue: 4th amendment rights of students |
| Jones v. Clinton 1997 | Concerned the sexual misconduct case of Paula Jones v. President Clinton. Held that presidents can be used civally while in office. |
| Court Cases that have to do with students | NJ vs. TLO, Vernonia v. Action, Tinker vs. Des Moines |
| Court Cases that have to do with the rights of the accused (Amendments 5-7) | Miranda v. Arizona, Gideon v. Wainwright, Escobedo v. Illinois |
| Schenck v. US 1917 | Schenck distributed pamphlets urging citizens to avoid the draft. 1st amendment rights: sets up the "clear and present danger clause" |
| Court Cases that have to do with wartime rights | Korematsu v. US, Schenck v. US (rights can be limited during times of war) |
| Court Cases that expanded the powers of the Federal Gov't | Marbury v. Madison, McCullogh v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden |
| Court Cases that EXPANDED Individual Rights | Brown v. Bd of Ed, Mapp v. Ohio, Engel v. Vitale, Roe v. Wade, Gideon v. Wainwright |
| Court cases that LIMITED individual rights | Korematsu v. US, US v. Nixon, NJ vs. TLO, Dred Scott Decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, Schenck v. US |
| Wabash v. the US | limited the power of big business |
