required documents & court cases Flashcards
US v. Lopez 1995
-lopez brought gun to school and was arrested under state charges which where then dropped and turned into federal charges because he violated gun free school zone act a federal law
-US argued congress could do this because under commerce clause, federal government can regulate interstate trade
-court ruled in favor of lopez stating that if congress could regulate gun violence under guise of commerce then they could regulate anything so it was unconstituional
-weakened scope of federal government!
McCulloch v. Maryland 1819
-congress created the 2nd national bank and put it in maryland but maryland didn’t like this and taxed every bank not chartered by the state of maryland
-james mcculloch thought this was unfair and refused to pay this tax and argued that since creating a national bank was necessary to the economy of the country, congress could do this
-emphaized supremacy clause
-supreme court ruled unanimously in favor of mcculloch
Citizens United v. FEC 2010
-citizens united created a film to smear hillary campaign but by the time it was done it was within the window where corporations cannot do electioneering communications
-citizens united claimed that this violated their first amendment rights of freedom of speech and congress ruled in favor stating that these limitations were no different than government censorship and they were removed from BCRA
-now corporations can spend as much money as they want on electioneering communications as long as it’s not directly for a specific candidate
Baker v. Carr 1962
-tennessse hadn’t redrawn any district lines in over 60 years and did not reflect changes in urban and rural populations so urban spaces had less power
-charles baker argued that he was not being equally protected under 14th amendment as a result of the representation discrepancies
-supreme court ruled that issues of reapportionment were now justiciable and established one person, one vote: states must apportion representatives so that people are equally represented
-set a precedent for states to reapportion and fix their representation going forward
Shaw v. Reno 1993
-north carolina used racial gerrymandering to create 2 majority black districts as a way to help blacks who had been historically under-represented
-shaw argued that 14th amendment’s equal protection clause was being violated because these districts were drawn solely with race in mind
-court ruled in favor of shaw stating that drawing district lines with race as the only factor set a dangerous precendent because even though this was being used for good, it could be used really badly a well
New York Times v. United States 1971
-nixon had investigated US involvement in vietnam war crisis and found we were very corrupt about the whole thing and then someone leaked a part of this report to the press
-publications began to create their articles were ready to publish about how the government was lying to the country but nixon sent out a prior restraint order
-new york times argued that 1st amendment freedom of the press was being violated because they were censoring the press
-court ruled in favor of new york times because nixons claims that prior restraint was necessary because the publication of these articles would compromise national security were extremely false and nixon j wanted to cover his ass
Articles of Confederation
-13 states were a confederation
-unless directly delegated to congress, states hold all powers (including assumed powers)
-one federal congress with one vote per state
-unanimity needed to amend articles
-super majority (9/13) needed to declare war
-federal gov cannot raise army/navy or levy taxes
Constitution
-drafted at Philadelphia convention in 1787
-article 1/legislative branch: bicameral legislature, enumerated(explicitly outlined) powers, elastic clause
-article 2/excutive branch: electoral college, presidential powers
-article 3/judicial branch: supreme court, congress establishes lower courts, supreme court can have original jurisdiction when a state is a party
-article 4: state to federal relationship, state to state relationship
-article 5/amendments: proposal can be done by 2/3 of either house of congress or 2/3 of state legislature, ratification occurs if 3/4 states support amendment
-article 6: supremacy clause
-article 7: ratification process
-bill of rights
Declaration of Independence
-3 sections: preamble, grievances against king george iii, resolution for independence
-thomas jefferson emphasizes natural rights, popular sovereignty and the social contract
-main goals of document were to rally troops and seek foreign allies as this was a publicly published document
Federalist 51
-separation of power/checks and balances make government strong enough to protect liberty but also not strong enough to destroy liberty
-each branch should have equal but INDEPENDENT power so that they wont interfere with each other
-legislative branch will be split into two/bicameral because in order to make it more comparable in power to the other branches
Federalist 10
-how will constitution protect the liberty of citizens from tyranny of the majority?
-factions are dangerous but inevitable
-republican government will protect against effects of factions as it will include many interests and therefore be harder to unite in corruption
-as the nation grows, there will be many factions which will have to compete w each other and compromise on legislation
Brutus 1
-is confederated government good for country? yes!
-hates elastic clause because allows central government to pass any legislation
-hates supremacy clause because then state government is rendered void
-points out that republican government is impractical for a country our size as representatives cannot truly represent this many people
1st Amendment
freedom of speech, press, assembly and petition
10th Amendment
powers not given to federal government belong to the state
14th Amendment
citizenship rights and equal protection
-due process for the states (allows court to apply this to the states)
15th Amendment
right to vote not denied by race
17th Amendment
allowed for general election of state senators
19th Amendment
womens suffrage
24th Amendment
bans the poll tax
26th Amendment
raised voting age to 18 years old
Voting Rights Act of 1965
if states change districts, the federal government has to approve
-prompted north Carolina to send their black majority districts to the government for review
Marbury v. Madison 1803
-john adams had set out letters appointing justices and madison had refused to send them out but marbury was pissed that he didn’t get his so he went to court
-marbury wanted the court to order a writ of mandamus in order to force madison to send the letters since he’s legally obligated to do so
-constitutional principle at stake here is the aritcle 3 jurisdiction clauses where supreme court only has original jurisdiction in cases involving states, foreign ambassadors, and consuls
-court ruled that 1. marbury was legally entitled to his commission, 2. yes the writ of mandamus was in order to get marbury his commission, and 3. no the supreme court does not have the authority to issue the writ because this case didn’t involve anythings that would permit the court to have original jurisdiction and so judiciary act was null/void.
-this case estalished judicial review
