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BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION (1954)
A man tried to enroll his daughter in the closest school district the his house. The enrollment was denied since his daughter was African American and the next option was a segregated school that was far away from his house. That family and twelve others joined together to fight this and filed a class-action lawsuit against the school district. They argued that segregation violated the fourteenth amendement. A lower court initially ruled against them saying that under Plessy v. Furgeson everything was “seperate but equal” so segregation was allowed. When the NAACP started representing them they took it to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled that “seperate but equal” is still not technically equal and the ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson was harmful even if they technically had the same things.
SHAW V. RENO (1993)
This case primarily addressed gerrymandering and the concept of redrawing voting districts. Leading up to this, the state of North Carolina submitted a redistricting map that contained one majority-minority black district. In hopes of complying with the amendments to the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Attorney General Reno, told North Carolina to add a second majority-minority district. This 12th district was shown to be strangely shaped and was clearly attempting to connect areas with large black populations. As a result of this, in 1991, Ruth Shaw and other groups of white voters challenged this redistricting and argued that this was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause.
In a close 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the shape of this district was meant to be centered around separating voters based on race. Therefore, they said that when a jurisdiction redraws district lines, race cannot be the primary consideration.
GIDEON V. WAINWRIGHT (1963)
This case arose when Clarence Earl Gideon appeared on trial for misdemeanor without an attorney because he could not afford one. When he was found guilty, he created a petition that was viewed by the Supreme Court.
Court ruled with Gideon that the 6th Amendment requires US states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own. In this case, the Sixth Amendment’s right to an attorney extends procedural due process protections to felony defendants in state courts.
TINKER V. DES MOINES INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT (1969)
This case affects the ideals of prohibiting protesting at school, violating freedom of speech. A prohibition against public school students wearing black armbands in school to protest the Vietnam War violated the students’ freedom of speech protections in the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court ruled that students and teachers should not sacrifice their freedom of speech at school and that school officials could not prohibit solely off of suspicion of disruption.
BAKER V. CARR (1962)
In the Tennessee State Consitution, it has mandated that every 10 years the legislative discricts are to be redrawn to account for population change and keep everything fair. Soon after Charles Baker and other Tennessee families sued the secretary fo the state since there hasnt been a redrawing of the dictrics since 1901. This is unfair since many people had moved out of rural areas into the urban districts making the rural areas have a bigger representation than they deserve. In return the state declared that redistricting was not withing the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.
In a 6-2 opinion the Supreme Court decided that it was an appropriate matter for the Supreme Court to handle and that under the fourteenth amendment judicial intervention was was warrented.
NEW YORK TIMES CO. V. UNITED STATES (1971)
The case began when the Nixon administration tried to prevent the New York Times from publishing information belonging to a classified Defense Department study about US history of activities in Vietnam, arguing that it was in efforts to protect national security. The question raised was if the Nixon Administration’s efforts to prevent the publication of “classified information” was violating the 1st Amendment.
The Supreme Court ruled that it did violate the 1st Amendment because it did not pose an immediate and inevitable threat to the safety of American forces. This case bolstered the freedom of the press protections of the First Amendment, establishing a “heavy presumption against prior restraint” even in cases involving national security.
ENGEL V. VITALE (1962)
Parents sued on behalf of their child that school-sponsored nondenominational prayer in public schools does violate the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment.
It was allowed for students to not participate if they felt the need to do so but the Supreme Court felt that solution did not make the situation constitutional and ruled against religious school activities.
MCDONALD V. CHICAGO (2010)
In 2010, a resident of Chicago named Otis McDonald attempted to legally purchase a handgun in order to protect him from potential threat within his household. Ha was unable to purchase one though because of a city-wide handgun ban that was enacted in 1982. As a result of this, he joined with three other residents and sued the city of Chicago for limiting their rights to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment.
The Court ruled that states could not impede their citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment.
MCCULLOCH V. MARYLAND (1819)
In 1816, Congress created the second National Bank, two years later Maryland passed a legislation that had the bank be taxed. One of the cashiers refused to pay this tax and the state reasoned that it was never written in the Constitution that a federal government could control the bank.
When this was taken to the courts it was decided by a unanimous vote that Congress did have the power to control the courts and that Maryland could not tax something by the national government. Also, Justice Marshall added that Congress has powers not explicitly stated in the Constitution and that Maryland has the right to taxation, but they cant tax laws made from the Constitution.
WISCONSIN V. YODER (1972)
Jonas Yoder was prosecuted for not sending his children to school after 8th grade, a Wisconsin state law requiring kids to be sent to public school until they are 16, and argued that it was against his Amish and religious beliefs.The question was risen if Wisconsin’s schooling requirement violated the First Amendment by criminalizing parents who refuse to send their children to school for religious reasons.
The Supreme Court ruled that an individual’s interests in practicing free exercise of religion and that the school’s intent conflicted with the life of the Amish religion. Compelling Amish students to attend school past the eighth grade violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
CITIZENS UNITED V. FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION (2010)
When a conservative non-profit organization called Citizens United made a film that was clearly hoping to influence voters in the upcoming election, a lower court ruled that this was a violation. Citizens United appealed their ruling and this case suddenly became broader in scope. The question at hand was whether or not restrictions on political spending violated the First Amendment.
The Court ruled that the First Amendment protects political spending by advocacy groups and restrictions on this were unconstitutional. In a separate vote, they upheld the BRCA’s disclosure requirements for political spending.
SCHENCK V. UNITED STATES (1919)
When WWI first started and they were drafting men to go fight for the war, people with far-left political views and that had close ties with Germany felt that drafting was a violation against the thirteenth amendment. This amendment stated that there shouldn’t be involuntary servitude. To try and spread this idea, Charles Schenck sent out fliers stating that they should fight against being drafted and stand up for their rights. Charles Schenck and his partner was soon convicted for espionage under the Espionage Act of 1917 since the law has an exception for miltary work. Schenck went to the Supreme Court claiming that the Espionage Act was a violation of their first amendment.
By unanimous decision, the courts ruled against Schenck and his partner stating that during war, restrictions on freedom of speech are greater and allowed.
UNITED STATES V. LOPEZ (1995)
In 1990, the Gun-Free Zone Act was passed which made it a federal crime for an individual to knowingly possess a firearm in a school zone. About two years later, a senior in high school named Alfonso Lopez carried an unloaded gun to school and ultimately got charged for violating the Gun-Free Zone Act. Lopez appealed his case and argued that Congress exceeded its scope of authority under the Commerce Clause by attempting to control public schools. The government ended up taking this case before the Supreme Court and explained that firearms in education would lead to crime and weaken the economy.
In a 5-4 decision, the Court upheld the appeals court ruling and stated that the possession of firearms in local school zones did not constitute economic activity and had no effect on interstate commerce. While this showed that the Commerce Clause had much power, the Court ruled that this clause did not extend to the power of the issue of firearm regulation.
MARBURY V. MADISON (1803)
Before Jefferson took office as president, Adams appointed new courts, judges, and more. To get all the judges appointed into office they had to send a letter of commission through the senate. When Marbury sent his commission to the senate, Madison, he never delivered it. This made Marbury go to the courts to demand Madison to deliver his commission. It was found unconstitutional for Madison to withhold the delivery, but they couldnt do anything since Congress couldnt control the Consitution.
This was the first time the Supreme Court declared something unconstitutional. This established that the Supreme Court has the power to question the constitutionality of the other two branches of government. This is called judicial review where one branch can make sure the other two follow the constitution.