Cracking AP Exam Court Cases

Question 0

Gitlow v. New York

Answer 0

This case created the “Bad Tendency Doctrine,” which held that speech could be restricted even if it only has a tendency to lead to illegal action. Though this element of the decision was quite restrictive, Gitlow also selectively incorporated freedom of speech to state governments.

Question 1

Schenck v. US

Answer 1

This case, decided by Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, established that speech which evokes “a clear and present danger” is not permissible. He famously used the example of someone falsely yelling “fire” in a crowded tester as an example of prohibited sleech

Question 2

Tinker v. Des Moines

Answer 2

Students in Iowa were suspended for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam war. The court ruled that this suspension was unconstitutional, and that public school students do not “shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door”

Question 3

Bethel school district v. Fraser

Answer 3

This case gave public school officials the authority to suspend students for speech considered to be lewd or indecent

Question 8

Smith v. Allwright

Answer 8

The denying of African Americans the right to vote in. Primary election was found to be in violation of the fifteenth amendment