Landmark Cases

Question 1

Reynolds

Answer 1

• 1878
• A law criminalizing bigamy does not violate a defendant’s constitutional right to the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment.

Question 2

Maynard v. Hill

Answer 2

• 1887
• The marriage contract is unlike other contractual relationships in that it creates a special relationship that can be altered only by governmental action.

Question 3

Griswold

Answer 3

• 1965
• Constitutional right to privacy; implied right to privacy in the Bill of Rights that prohibits states from preventing married couples from using contraception

Question 4

Loving v. Virginia

Answer 4

• 1967
• A state may not restrict marriages between persons solely on the basis of race under the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 5

Stanley v. Illinois

Answer 5

• 1972
• All parents are entitled to a hearing to determine their fitness before the state deprives them of custody of their children.

Question 6

Roe v. Wade

Answer 6

• 1973

- constitutional right to privacy protects a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion

Question 7

Planned Parenthood

Answer 7

• 1976
• It is unconstitutional for a state to require the consent of a spouse as a condition precedent for a woman to procure an abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Question 8

Zablocki

Answer 8

• 1978
• The right to marry is a fundamental right, and any legislative attempts by a state to limit that right are unconstitutional unless they are narrowly-tailored to the accomplishment of an important governmental purpose;
• can’t prevent people from getting married just because they’re poor

Question 9

Lawrence

Answer 9

• 2003
• The liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects the right of consenting adults to engage in intimate contact in the privacy of their own homes, which includes homosexual activities.

Question 10

Windsor

Answer 10

• 2013
• Supreme Court recognized the right of validly married same-sex couples to federal benefits; The provision in DOMA defining marriage as excluding same-sex couples is a deprivation of liberty guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.

Question 11

Obergefell

Answer 11

• 2015
• Under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, states must issue marriage licenses and recognize lawful out-of-state marriages for same-sex couples.