Civil Liberties Supreme Court Cases

Civil Liberties Supreme Court Cases

1.  Judicial Review

a.  Marbury v. Madison (1803)

i.  Supreme Court establishes judicial review, where it can find a law passed by Congress to be unconstitutional.

2.  National Supremacy

a.  McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

i.  Upholds Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

ii.  Strengthens Congress by allowing law created using Necessary and Proper clause.

b.  Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

i.  States that national government has sole power to regulate interstate commerce, and that almost all commerce can be labeled as such and can therefore be regulated by Congress.

ii.  Further strengthens the national government.

3.  First Amendment

a.  Free Speech

i.  Schenck v. U.S. (1919)

1.  1st Amend does not protect speech that possesses a “clear and present danger”

2.  During wartime, speech normally protected in peacetime can be punished

ii.  Gitlow v. New York (1925)

1.  1st Amend incorporated to states via 14th’s Due Process

iii.  Miller v. California (1973)

1.  5-4 decision, obscene materials, no 1st Amend protection.

2.  Three prong test for obscenity:

a.  The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest

b.  Whether work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by applicable state law

c.  Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value

iv.  Texas v. Johnson (1989) 5-4 decision

1.  Burning of flag constitutionally protected.

2.  Expressive conduct that had a distinctly political nature

v.  Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969)

1.  Wearing of arm bands to protest gov’t action OK

2.  Principal failed to show that wearing armbands would substantially interfere with appropriate school discipline

vi.  West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)

1.  Compelling school kids to salute the flag was unconstitutional.

b.  Religion – Establishment Clause

i.  Engle v. Vitale (1962)

1.  Reading of nondenominational prayer violates establishment clause

ii.  Everson v. Board of Education (1947)

1.  States CAN reimburse parents for $ spent on busing their kids to parochial schools. No violation since state also provides fire and police protection, and $ going to parents, not school.

iii.  Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

1.  Can states make financial aid available to “church-related educational institutions”? No

2.  Three prong test:

a.  Statute must have a secular legislative purpose

b.  Statute must have principal effect which neither advance nor inhibit religion

c.  Statute must not foster “an excessive government entanglement with religion”

iv.  Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)

1.  Alabama’s prayer and meditation statute authorizing regular religious prayer services during school day violates secular test and advancing religion test of Lemon

c.  Right to assemble

i.  NAACP v. Alabama (1957)

1.  NAACP did not have to give Alabama all the names and addresses of its members since it would have the effect of violating their 1st Amendment right of free association.

2.  Second Amendment

a.  DC v. Heller(2008)

i.  5-4 vote that 2nd Amendment protected non-militia gun owners. Self-defense is a “fundamental” right protected by 2nd Amendment

b.  McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

i.  2nd incorporated to states via 14th’s Due Process. Now states cannot keep you from owning a gun (gun control laws do apply, though)

3.  Fourth Amendment

a.  Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

i.  4th incorporated to states

ii.  Exclusionary rule: illegally obtained evidence excluded in all courts

4.  Fifth Amendment

a.  Barron v. Baltimore (1833)

i.  5th and other Bill of Rights apply to national government only. Not to states.

b.  Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

i.  5th’s protection against self-incrimination incorporated to states.

ii.  Suspects must be made aware of their right to counsel (6th) and their right against self-incrimination (right to be silent, 5th) before being questioned by authorities

5.  Sixth Amendment

a.  Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

i.  6th’s right to counsel incorporated to states via 14th’s Due Process.

ii.  Overturned Betts, found right to counsel to be “fundamental”

6.  Eighth Amendment

a.  Furman v. Georgia (1971)

i.  Is the death penalty “cruel and unusual punishment”?

ii.  In this case, yes, though the death penalty was not totally banned. Warned that states could not sentence inmates to the death penalty in a “capricious or discriminatory manner”.

b.  Gregg v. Georgia (1977)

i.  Is the death penalty “cruel and unusual punishment”?

ii.  No, court held that death penalty did not violate the Constitution under all circumstances

7.  Nineth Amendment (Privacy)

a.  Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

i.  Bill of Rights contain “penumbras”, or zones, that establish right to privacy. 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 9th together create this right to privacy.

b.  Roe v. Wade (1973)

i.  Right to privacy applied to women in first trimester

c.  Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989) 5-4

1.  Missouri enacted numerous restrictions on abortions, and all passed constitutional muster. Very fractured decision.

d.  Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) 5-4 decision

i.  Can a state require a woman in first trimester to notify husband, wait 24 hrs, and if a minor, obtain parental consent?

ii.  “Undue burden” test: does a statute have purpose or effect of imposing an “undue burden”, or “substantial obstacle” to get an abortion.

iii.  SC said notifying husband didn’t pass “undue burden” test, but others did.

8.  Fourteenth Amendment

a.  Due Process Clause

i.  Betts v. Brady (1942)

1.  States can’t interfere in defendant’s request for counsel, but they don’t HAVE to supply a defendant one.

b.  Equal Protection Clause

i.  Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

1.  separate but equal upheld

2.  14th establishes absolute equality for the races before the law, not socially.

ii.  Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

1.  Segregation deprives kids of equal protection of the laws.

2.  Plessy overturned.

iii.  Brown v. Board of Education II (1955)

1.  Local schools and local courts must implement Brown directives with “all deliberate speed”.

iv.  Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971)

1.  Federal courts are authorized to oversee and produce remedies for state-imposed segregation.

v.  Baker v Carr (1962)

1.  SC can get involved in state politics. 14th’s Equal Protection clause

vi.  Wesberry v. Sanders (1964)

1.  One person, one vote

2.  GA’s 5th Congressional district apportionment diluted value of vote there. 3xs as many voters as in other districts.

vii. University of California Regents v. Bakke (1978)

1.  Did school violate 14th’s EP clause and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in repeatedly denying Bakke admission?

2.  Yes & No. Quotas violated Civil Rights Act & 14th’s EP. But, race could be used as a criterion in admissions decisions.

9.  Commerce Clause

a.  Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S. (1964)

i.  Civil Rights Act of 1964 upheld. Title II, dealing with public accommodations, is constitutional.

10.  Executive Privilege

a.  U.S. v. Nixon (1974) 8-0

i.  Presidents do not enjoy absolute, unqualified, presidential privilege.

11.  Power to tax

a.  National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012)

i.  Obamacare is constitutional because Congress had the implied power under the Necessary and Proper clause based on Congress’ enumerated power to tax.

12.  Campaign Finance

a.  Buckley v. Valeo (1976) 7-1

i.  The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1974 limited contributions to campaigns to $1,000. This included amounts that an actual candidate can contribute to his/her own campaign. Supreme Court held that a candidate was did not have to abide by this limit, that a candidate can spend as much money as he/she wants on his/her own campaign. Court said this was political speech

b.  Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)

1.  Political spending by anyone is a form of protected speech.

2.  Corporations, labor unions, non-profits, etc., may spend as much as they’d like supporting or denouncing individual candidates, as long as they do not directly contribute to a candidate’s campaign or co-ordinate their efforts with a candidate’s campaign.

13.  Cases where Bill of Rights has been selectively incorporated to the states

a.  Gitlow v. New York (1925)

i.  1st Amendment incorporated to states via 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause

b.  McDonald v. Chicago(2010)

i.  2nd Amendment incorporated to states via 14th Amendment’s Due Process

c.  Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

i.  4th Amendment’s unreasonable searches and seizures incorporated to states via 14th Amendment’s Due Process Clause

d.  Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

i.  5th Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination incorporated to the states via 14th’s Due Process Clause

e.  Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

i.  6th Amendment’s right to counsel incorporated to states via 14th’s Due Process Clause

f.  Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

i.  Supreme Court’s discovery of a right to privacy (9th Amendment says that other rights not already listed in the constitution can be “discovered”) automatically incorporated to the states.