Wallace V. Jaffree

Name: Wallace V Jaffree

Year: 1985

Result: 6-3 Jaffree won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Prayer in schools is a violation of the 1st amendment, it forces religion on to kids. This case re enforced protection of religion.

Quote: "The State's endorsement of prayer activities at the beginning of each school day is not consistent with the established principle that the government must pursue a course of complete neutrality toward religion."

Summary: Prayer in schools violates 1st amendment

Tinker V. Des Moines

Name: Tinker V. Des Moines

Year: 1969

Result: 7-2 Tinker won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: The school violated to 1st amendment.

Quote: "First Amendment rights, applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment, are available to teachers and students. It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."

Summary: Armbands are protected under 1st amendment

Thompson V. Oklahoma

Name: Thompson V. Oklahoma

Year: 1988

Result: 5-3 Thompson won

Constitutional Issue: 8th amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Execution of a 15 year old is cruel and unusual punishment. Execution of anyone under the age of 16 is cruel and unusual punishment.

Quote: "In performing that task, the Court has reviewed the work product of state legislatures and sentencing juries, and has carefully considered the reasons why a civilized society may accept or reject the death penalty in certain types of cases. Thus, in confronting the question whether the youth of the defendant -- more specifically, the fact that he was less than 16 years old at the time of his offense -- is a sufficient reason for denying the State the power to sentence him to death, we first review relevant legislative enactments, then refer to jury determinations, and finally explain why these indicators of contemporary standards of decency confirm our judgment that such a young person is not capable of acting with the degree of culpability that can justify the ultimate penalty."

Summary: Execution under 16 is cruel punishment

Texas V. Johnson

Name: Texas V. Johnson

Year: 1989

Result: 5-4 Johnson won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Burning the American flag was seen as expression and was protected under the 1st amendment.

Quote: "After publicly burning an American flag as a means of political protest, Gregory Lee Johnson was convicted of desecrating a flag in violation of Texas law. This case presents the question whether his conviction is consistent with the First amendment.  We hold that it is not."

Summary: Burning of American flag is constitutional

Swann V. Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Eduction

Name: Swann V. Charlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education

Year: 1971

Result: 9-0 Charlotte won

Constitutional Issue: 14th amendment

Right or Liberty: Right

Significance: Fought racial segregation, started bussing to different distracts to accelerate desegregation.

Quote: "We granted certiorari in this case to review important issues as to the duties of school authorities and the scope of powers of federal courts under this Court's mandates to eliminate racially separate public schools established and maintained by state action."

Summary: Charlotte helps desegregation by bussing students

Sheppard V. Maxwell

Name: Sheppard V. Maxwell

Year: 1966

Result: 8-1 Sheppard won

Constitutional Issue: 5th amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Sheppard didn't receive a fair trial due to the media. The media is now more supervised and less biased.

Quote: "This federal habeas corpus application involves the question whether Sheppard was deprived of a fair trial in his state conviction for the second-degree murder of his wife because of the trial judge's failure to protect Sheppard sufficiently from the massive, pervasive and prejudicial publicity that attended his prosecution. The United States District Court held that he was not afforded a fair trial and granted the writ subject to the State's right to put Sheppard to trial again…we have concluded that Sheppard did not receive a fair trial consistent with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and, therefore, reverse the judgment."

Summary: Media causes unfair and biased trials

Schenck V. US

Name: Schenck V. US

Year: 1919

Result: 9-0 United States won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Scheck's actions presented a clear and present danger.

Quote: "We admit that, in many places and in ordinary times, the defendants, in saying all that was said in the circular, would have been within their constitutional rights. But the character of every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done...When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight, and that no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right."

Summary: Free speech limited during war time

Roe V. Wade

Name: Roe V. Wade

Year: 1973

Result: 7-2 Roe won

Constitutional Issue: 14th amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Right to abortion protected by the right to privacy. Laws in 46 states were changed because of the result of this case.

Quote: "Roe alleged that she was unmarried and pregnant; that she wished to terminate her pregnancy by an abortion "performed by a competent, licensed physician, under safe, clinical conditions"; that she was unable to get a "legal" abortion in Texas because her life did not appear to be threatened by the continuation of her pregnancy; and that she could not afford to travel to another jurisdiction in order to secure a legal abortion under safe conditions. She claimed that the Texas statutes were unconstitutionally vague and that they abridged her right of personal privacy, protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth amendments. By an amendment to her complaint, Roe purported to sue "on behalf of herself and all other women" similarly situated."

Summary: Abortions are protected by right to privacy

Reno V. ACLU

Name: Reno V. ACLU

Year: 1997

Result: 9-0 ACLU won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Communications Decency Act violated the 1st amendment because it was too broad.

Quote: "At issue is the constitutionality of two statutory provisions enacted to protect minors from "indecent" and "patently offensive" communications on the Internet. Notwithstanding the legitimacy and importance of the congressional goal of protecting children from harmful materials, we agree with the three-judge District Court that the statute abridges "the freedom of speech" protected by the First Amendment."

Summary: Communications Decency act is too broad

Plessy V. Ferguson

Name: Plessy V. Ferguson

Year: 1896

Result: 7-1 Ferguson won

Constitutional Issue: 14th amendment

Right or Liberty: Right

Significance: Segregation doesn't constitute unlawful discrimination.

Quote: "The information filed in the criminal District Court charged in substance that Plessy, being a passenger between two stations within the State of Louisiana, was assigned by officers of the company to the coach used for the race to which he belonged, but he insisted upon going into a coach used by the race to which he did not belong."

Summary: Separate but equal is legally constitutional

Planned Parenthood V. Casey

Name: Planned Parenthood V. Casey

Year: 1992

Result: 5-4 Planned Parenthood won

Constitutional Issue: 14th amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: New standard asked whether regulations on abortions has a burden on pregnant women. However the partner must be notified of the abortion.

Quote: "After considering the fundamental constitutional questions resolved by Roe, principles of institutional integrity, and the rule of stare decisis, we are led to conclude this: the essential holding of Roe v. Wade should be retained and once again reaffirmed."

Summary: Spousal consent required to have abortions

New York Times V. US

Name: New York Times V. US

Year: 1971

Result: 6-3 NY Time won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Publication of the papers wouldn't cause an event endangering the people, prior restraint is not justified and unconstitutional.

Quote: "We granted certiorari in these cases in which the United States seeks to enjoin the New York Times and the Washington Post from publishing the contents of a classified study entitled "History of U.S. Decision-Making Process on Viet Nam Policy."

Summary: Prior restraint without danger present unconstitutional

New Jersy V. TLO

Name: New Jersey V. TLO

Year: 1985

Result: 6-3 NJ won

Constitutional Issue: 4th amendment

Right or Liberty: Libery

Significance: Reasonable suspicion allows for a more thorough search at schools.

Quote: "The gist of the opinion is that the Fourth Amendment does not strictly apply to schools since they are acting in the place of parents but there is still a general requirement that searches be reasonable in light of the totality of the circumstances."

Summary: Schools allowed to search more thoroughly

 

Miranda V. Arizona

Name: Miranda V. Arizona

Year: 1966

Result: 5-4 Miranda won

Constitutional Issue: 5th amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: The case made it so your Miranda rights have to be read to you when your arrested. It also gave more right to the accused especially against self incrimination.

Quote: "The cases before us raise questions which go to the roots of our concepts of American criminal jurisprudence: the restraints society must observe consistent with the Federal Constitution in prosecuting individuals for crime. More specifically, we deal with the admissibility of statements obtained from an individual who is subjected to custodial police interrogation and the necessity for procedures which assure that the individual is accorded his privilege under the fifth amendment to the Constitution not to be compelled to incriminate himself."

Summary: More rights for accused, self incrimination

Mapp V. Ohio

Name: Mapp V. Ohio

Year: 1961

Result: 6-3 Mapp won

Constitutional Issue: 4th amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Because the evidence was illegally obtained the court ruled all charges against Mapp be dismissed. Excluded evidence obtained illegally.

Quote: "All evidence obtained by searches and seizures in violation of the Constitution is, by [the Fourth Amendment], inadmissible in a state court."

Summary: Illegally obtained evidence cant be used

Lemon V. Kurtzman

Name: Lemon V. Kurtzman

Year: 1971

Result: 8-0 Lemon won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Sponsoring of the schools by a church was establishing an official religion.

Quote: "To be constitutional, a statute must have a secular legislative purpose, it must have principal effects which neither advance nor inhibit religion, and it must not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion."

Summary: Church cant fund schools, establishes religion

Korematsu V. US

Name: Korematsu V. US

Year: 1944

Result: 6-3 United states won

Constitutional Issue: 5th amendment

Right or Liberty: Right

Significance: Only case in which the court upheld a decision based souly on race

Quote: "The need to protect against espionage outweighed Korematsu's rights. Compulsory exclusion, though constitutionally suspect, is justified during circumstances of emergency and peril."

Summary: Court sided America on Japanese exclusion

Hazelwood V. Kuhlmeier

Name: Hazelwood V. Kuhlmeier

Year: 1988

Result: 5-3 Hazelwood won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Schools have the right to not sponsor speech that has no significance. It showed that all Americans have rights, but those rights can be limited depending on where they are.

Quote: "Petitioners are the Hazelwood School District in St. Louis County, Missouri; various school officials; Robert Eugene Reynolds, the principal of Hazelwood East High School; and Howard Emerson, a teacher in the school district. Respondents are three former Hazelwood East students who were staff members of Spectrum, the school newspaper. They contend that school officials violated their first amendment rights by deleting two pages of articles from the May 13, 1983, issue of Spectrum."

Summary: Schools can restrict freedom of speech

Gideon V. Wainwright

Name: Gideon V. Wainwright

Year: 1963

Result: 9-0 Gideon won

Constitutional Issue: 6th amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: If this case hadn't have happened, people who could not afford representation wouldn't have be able to receive it.

Quote: "The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and petitioner was sentenced to serve five years in the state prison. Later, petitioner filed in the Florida Supreme Court this habeas corpus petition attacking his conviction and sentence on the ground that the trial court's refusal to appoint counsel for him denied him rights "guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights by the United States Government."

Summary: Poor people have rights to counsel

Furman V. Georgia

Name: Furman V. Georgia

Year: 1972

Result: 5-4 Furman won

Constitutional Issue: 8th amendment

Right or Liberty: Right

Significance: Death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. Courts decision must be made on the severity of the crime committed, not on discriminatory principals.

Quote: “The imposition of the death penalty in these cases constituted cruel and unusual punishment and violated the Constitution.”
Summary: No discriminatory punishment, death penalty cruel

Engel V. Vitale

Name: Engel V. Vitale

Year: 1962

Result: 6-1 Engel won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: New York was establishing a religion by providing prayer.

Quote: "Because of the prohibition of the 1st amendment against the enactment of any law "respecting an establishment of religion," which is made applicable to the States by the 14th amendment, state officials may not compose an official state prayer and require that it be recited in the public schools of the State at the beginning of each school day -- even if the prayer is denominationally neutral and pupils who wish to do so may remain silent or be excused from the room while the prayer is being recited."

Summary: State prayer is unconstitutional, no religion

 

Cruzan V. Missouri

Name: Cruzan V. Missouri

Year: 1990

Result: 5-4 Missouri won

Constitutional Issue: 14th amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: People who are incompetent can not make the decision to have or to not have medical treatment. It was the first case like this, a right-to-die or right-to-live case.

Quote: "Petitioner Nancy Beth Cruzan was rendered incompetent as a result of severe injuries sustained during an automobile accident. Copetitioners Lester and Joyce Cruzan, Nancy's parents and coguardians, sought a court order directing the withdrawal of their daughter's artificial feeding and hydration equipment after it became apparent that she had virtually no chance of recovering her cognitive faculties. The Supreme Court of Missouri held that, because there was no clear and convincing evidence of Nancy's desire to have life-sustaining treatment withdrawn under such circumstances, her parents lacked authority to effectuate such a request."

Summary: Right to die and deny treatment











                                                     











                                                                                                              Nancy Cruzan

California V. Greenwood

Name: California V. Greenwood

Year: 1988

Result: 6-2 California won

Constitutional Issue: 4th amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: Garbage placed on the curb is not protected by the 4th amendment. The police have every right now to search trash, as long as it is on the curb.

Quote: "The 4th amendment does not prohibit the warrantless search and seizure of garbage left for collection outside the curtilage of a home."

Summary: Cops search without warrant now legal

 

Boy Scouts of America V. Dale

Name: Boy Scouts of America V. Dale

Year: 2000

Result: 5-4 Boy Scouts won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Right

Significance: The court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America have a constitutional right to ban homosexuals from being troop leaders.

Quote: The court held that New Jersey’s public accommodations law was inapplicable because the Boy Scouts was not a place of public accommodation, and that, alternatively, the Boy Scouts is a distinctly private group exempted from coverage under New Jersey’s law.

6 Word Summary: American Boy Scouts ban homosexual leaders

Bethel V. Fraser

Name: Bethel V. Fraser

 

Year: 1968

Result: 7-2 Bethel won

Constitutional Issue: 1st amendment

Right or Liberty: Liberty

Significance: 1st amendment doesn't ban a school from stopping the use of inappropriate language.

Quote:"We granted certiorari to decide whether the First Amendment prevents a school district from disciplining a high school student for giving a lewd speech at a school assembly."
6 Word Summary: High school speak prohibited, offensive sexually