The Docket
This 1963 case established that states must provide free counsel to defendants who cannot afford an attorney
What is Gideon v. Wainwright?
This civil rights attorney and future Supreme Court Justice argued Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court
Who is Thurgood Marshall?
In 1981, she was the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, appointed by President Reagan
Who is Sandra Day O'Connor?
This type of legal work involves representing clients who cannot afford an attorney, often on a volunteer basis
What is pro bono?
This 1992 film starring Jack Nicholson features the iconic courtroom line, "You can't handle the truth!"
What is A Few Good Men?
In this 1966 landmark case, the Supreme Court ruled that suspects must be informed of their rights before police interrogation
What is Miranda v. Arizona?
This pioneering legal scholar and Columbia Law professor co-founded the Women's Rights Project at the ACLU and later became a Supreme Court Justice
Who is Ruth Bader Ginsburg?
In 2022, this woman became the first Black female Supreme Court Justice
Who is Ketanji Brown Jackson?
This type of lawsuit allows one or more individuals to sue on behalf of a larger group who share the same legal grievance
What is a class action?
This long-running TV legal drama, premiering in 2009, featured attorney Alicia Florrick navigating politics and the law in Chicago
What is The Good Wife?
This 1969 Supreme Court case established that public school students retain their First Amendment rights on school grounds, arising from an Iowa school district's ban on anti-war protest wear
What is Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District?
This attorney and author founded the Equal Justice Initiative and wrote "Just Mercy" advocating for the wrongly condemned on death row
Who is Bryan Stevenson?
This state (territory at the time) was the first in the nation to grant women the right to vote, doing so in 1869, over 50 years before the 19th Amendment
What is Wyoming?
This 1920 organization, the oldest civil liberties organization in the US, has litigated landmark cases in free speech, reproductive rights, and racial justice
What is The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)?
This 1991 John Grisham novel follows a young Harvard Law graduate who discovers his new firm is laundering money for the mob
What is The Firm?
This 1905 case, in which the Supreme Court struck down a New York law limiting bakery workers hours, became notorious as a symbol of judicial overreach
What is Lochner v. New York?
Known as "the people's lawyer," this consumer advocate and four time presidential candidate wrote "Unsafe at Any Speed"
Who is Ralph Nader?
In 1872, this Howard University-trained attorney was the first Black woman to graduate from law school and the first to formally practice law in the United States
Who is Charlotte E. Ray?
This doctrine, derived from the 14th Amendment, requires states to apply the same constitutional protections as the federal government and was central to expanding civil rights litigation.
What is the Incorporation Doctrine?
This 2019 four-part Netflix series dramatizes the true story of the Central Park Five, five teenagers wrongfully convicted of assault in 1989
What is When They See Us?
This 1971 case saw the Supreme Court rule against prior restraint, allowing newspapers to publish the Pentagon Papers
What is New York Times Co. v. United States?
This lawyer succeeded Thurgood Marshall as the Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund and was awarded a Presidential Citizens Medal by President Clinton
Who is Jack Greenberg?
In 2003, this future Supreme Court Justice shattered a glass ceiling at Harvard Law School, becoming the first woman ever to serve as its dean in the school's 186-year history
Who is Elena Kagan?
This theory holds that race, gender, and other identities overlap to create compounding forms of discrimination, and was formally named by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989.
What is intersectionality?
This 2016 HBO miniseries starring John Turturro and Riz Ahmed examines the American criminal justice system through the lens of a murder case, sparking nationwide conversations about plea bargaining and access to justice
What is The Night Of?