Foundational Docs
In this foundational document Hamilton wrote about the importance of an independent judiciary that would have the power to interpret the laws, but lacked the power to enforce its own decisions. The judiciary should not be feared as it would depend on the executive branch to enforce holdings.
What is Federalist 78?
This group was hesitant to support ratification of the Constitution. They worried a strong central government would render the states useless.
Who are the Anti-Federalists?
This case is an important example of the doctrine of selective incorporation being used by the Court to apply an amendment from the Bill of Rights to the states.
What is McDonald v. Chicago (2010)?
"The power to tax is the power to destroy." The Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution's Article I Necessary & Proper Clause allows Congress to create a federal bank and that the Supremacy Clause, which makes national law superior to state law in areas where the Constitution has given Congress the power to act, means states cannot tax the federal government.
What is McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)?
This Amendment's Due Process Clause serves as the Court's basis for establishing the doctrine of selective incorporation.
What is the 14th Amendment?
In this foundational document the author explains why social movements are necessary when negotiations and legal challenges don't bring about the necessary results.
What is "Letter from Birmingham Jail"?
The Bill of Rights refers to this part of the Constitution.
What are the first ten amendments?
What is Brown v. Board of Education (1954)?
In this case the Court held that freedom of speech applies to more than just spoken words. The Court also stated that schools cannot censor students' expression, if that expression is not disruptive to learning and the school environment.
What is Tinker v. DesMoines (1969)?
This clause in the 14th Amendment has been used by the Court to expand civil rights.
What is the Equal Protection Clause?
This Amendment grants us many essential liberties. The right to peacefully assemble and the right to speak freely aka freedom of expression, are hallmarks of our government system and are protected in this Amendment.
To ensure that all individual rights were protected from abuses of power by the national government, the framers added this amendment to the Bill of Rights.
What is the Ninth Amendment?
"The press is to serve to the governed not the governors." This case establishes a heavy presumption against prior restraint (aka government censorship of the media).
In this case the Court looked at the First Amendment's Freedom of Religion free exercise clause to rule that Amish School Children did not need to follow this state's law that required children to stay in school through age 16.
What is Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)?
Congress used its authority under this clause of the Constitution's Article I enumerated powers to enact legislation that outlawed segregation in public accommodations.
What is the Commerce Clause?
The Colonists formed their own social movement and expressed their reasons for doing so in this foundational document. This document uses the social contract theory and natural rights theory to justify to the world why it was necessary to "dissolve" the bonds that tied us to a tyrant.
What is the Declaration of Independence?
To be sure that states' power was respected and to convince the Anti-Federalists that the states would still retain sovereignty in all areas that were not delegated to the national government, or prohibited to the states by the Constitution, the framers added this amendment to the Bill of Rights.
What is the 10th Amendment?
In this case the Court looked at the powers granted to Congress in Article I, and the powers granted to the Supreme Court in Article III to establish the doctrine of judicial review.
What is Marbury v. Madison (1803)?
Here the Court looked at the First Amendment's Freedom of Religion establishment clause to determine that school sponsored prayer in public schools was unconstitutional.
What is Engel v. Vitale (1962)?
Legal Challenges at the Supreme Court and Federal Legislation enacted by Congress in the realm of Civil Rights protections are examples of our national government in action protecting minority groups from tyranny of the majority in the individual states, particularly in the south. This Federalist Paper sought to explain why our system of government was necessary to protect minorities from tyranny of the majority in the states.
What is Federalist 10?
This foundational document establishes our federal system of government. In this document some power is delegated to a strong, central government, but all other power not expressly granted or prohibited, is reserved to the states.
What is the Constitution of the United States of America?
The Bill of Rights was initially written to protect the people and the states from abuses of power by the national government. It was not until the 14th Amendment was ratified that this doctrine allowed the Courts to apply the Bill of Rights to the states as challenges arose.
What is Selective Incorporation?
The Supreme Court reigned in Congress's attempt to expand its powers using the Commerce Clause to regulate guns in school zones.
What is U.S. v. Lopez (1995)?
In this case the Court established the "Clear and Present Danger" test which was later replaced by the Imminent Lawless Action standard.
What is Schenck v. United States (1919)?
A system of government in which a strong national government has some delegated authority and the individual states retain power/autonomy to govern in other areas that affect their citizens' lives.
What is federalism?