Federalism & Judicial Power
This fundamental legal principle allows federal courts to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional.
What is judicial review?
This First Amendment clause creates a wall of separation between church and state, prohibiting the government from setting up an official national religion or showing preference to one faith.
What is the Establishment Clause?
This 1919 case established the "clear and present danger" test, holding that anti-draft leaflets were not protected during wartime.
What is Schenck v. United States?
Ratified in 1868, this crucial clause of the Fourteenth Amendment has been used by the Supreme Court to selectively incorporate the Bill of Rights to state governments.
What is the Due Process Clause?
This infamous 1896 Supreme Court decision established the constitutional doctrine of "separate but equal," upholding state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities.
What is Plessy v. Ferguson?
This 1803 decision established the principle of judicial review by declaring part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional.
What is Marbury v. Madison?
This 1962 ruling held that official, voluntary state-sponsored prayer in public schools violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
What is Engel v. Vitale?
In 1969, the Court ruled that students retained First Amendment protection to wear black armbands protesting the Vietnam War as long as it did not cause substantial disruption.
What is Tinker v. Des Moines?
This 1963 decision incorporated the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, requiring states to provide an attorney to indigent criminal defendants.
What is Gideon v. Wainwright?
This 1954 ruling declared "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," overturning Plessy v. Ferguson under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.
What is Brown v. Board of Education?
This 1819 case invoked the Necessary and Proper Clause to confirm implied federal powers and established that states cannot tax federal entities.
What is McCulloch v. Maryland?
In 1972, the Court ruled that compelling children to attend public high school beyond 8th grade violated the Free Exercise rights of Amish families.
What is Wisconsin v. Yoder?
In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), the Supreme Court ruled that students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate, protecting this specific form of non-verbal First Amendment expression.
What is symbolic speech?
This 1973 case ruled that the constitutional right to privacy extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion under the Fourteenth Amendment. (Note: Overruled in 2022 by Dobbs v. Jackson, but foundational to AP Gov historical context).
What is Roe v. Wade?
This 1962 case established that state redistricting challenges were justiciable in federal court under the Fourteenth Amendment, famous for the phrase "one person, one vote."
What is Baker v. Carr?
The Supreme Court ruled that the Necessary and Proper Clause granted Congress these unspecified powers, justifying the creation of the Second Bank of the United States.
What are implied powers?
Also known as the "Pentagon Papers" case, this 1971 ruling created a heavy presumption against government prior restraint of the press.
What is the New York Times Co. v. United States?
By incorporating the Sixth Amendment through the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause, this 1963 case transformed state criminal justice systems by guaranteeing court-appointed counsel to indigent defendants.
What is Gideon v. Wainwright?
In 1993, the Court ruled that legislative districts drawn predominantly on the basis of race face strict scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause.
What is Shaw v. Reno?
In 1995, the Court struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act, ruling that carrying a gun in a school zone is not an economic activity under the Commerce Clause.
What is United States v. Lopez?
This landmark 2010 ruling struck down limits on independent campaign expenditures by corporations and unions under First Amendment speech protections.
What is Citizens United v. FEC?
In 2010, the Court used the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause to selectively incorporate the Second Amendment individual right to bear arms against state and local governments.
What is McDonald v. Chicago?
This Fourteenth Amendment clause guarantees that individuals in similar situations must be treated equally under the law, serving as the primary constitutional basis for Brown v. Board of Education and Baker v. Carr.