SCOTUS Flashcards
(15 cards)
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
William Marbury petitioned SCOTUS to make the Sec of State (James Madison) to deliver his commission. (Midnight Judges of Adams)
Can the court even do anything?
Holding: Judiciary Act of 1789 was in conflict with Constitution, so nullified.
Established Judicial Review - ability of SCOTUS to interpret something as Constitutional or Unconstitutional. Court granted themselves this power.
Supremacy Clause - Congress can’t pass laws that supercede the
Constitution because of Supremacy Clause
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Maryland passed a law taxing the Bank of the United States
Q1: Can Congress create a central bank? Q2: Can a state tax an instrument of the national government?
Holding: Congress can create a bank. States CANNOT tax national government.
Q1: Necessary and Proper Clause gives Congress implied powers, even if that power is not expressed specifically in the Constitution.
Q2: Supremacy Clause - national government is superior to state
government when there is a conflict between the 2.
Schenck v. US (1919)
A WWI protester was arrested for violating the Espionage Act by attempting to obstruct military recruitment.
Does the Espionage Act violate the 1st Amendment?
Holding: Espionage Act DOES NOT violate the 1st Amendment and was an appropriate use of Congress’s power during wartime.
The 1st amendment right is not absolute. Later cases found, it is Constitutional to place Time, Place, and Manner restrictions on the 1st Amendment right.
Clear and Present Danger test - if there is an immediate threat
To national security, it isn’t protected by the 1st Amendment
Brown v. BOE (1954)
African American students denied admission to public school based on race.
Is the practice of “separate, but equal” established in Plessy v. Ferguson constitutional?
Holding: No, racial segregation is unconstitutional.
Overturned Plessy based on the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The inequality inherent in separate, but equal violates the 14th Amendment.
Doll study - cited as evidence in the case to demonstrate the psychological harm of segregation on Black children. The Clarks’ research, including the doll test, showed that Black children often preferred white dolls, indicating a preference for the white race and a sense of inferiority associated with being Black.
Engle v. Vitale (1961)
NY public schools had non-denominational prayer at the beginning of the school day.
Can there be voluntary prayers in school led by the administration?
Holding: States CANNOT lead prayers in public schools, even it is voluntary and isn’t tied to a religion.
State-sponsored prayers violate the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment.
There is a separation of church and state, and schools can’t be seen as promoting an establishment of religion.
Baker v. Carr (1962)
TN voting districts were of unequal size, so the proportions were uneven. This made one person’s vote unequal to another person’s vote in another district.
Can the federal courts even rule on this?
Holding: Yes, federal courts can rule here. Apportionment is something the federal judiciary can rule on
Establishes the “One person, one vote” principle. Districts have to roughly be of equal size in population (not territory).
The 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause gave them the
right to challenge unequal apportionment
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
A homeless Florida man asked the state to appoint an attorney for him, but the state denied his request. They argued the 6th amendment only applies to the Federal Government.
Does the 6th Amendment apply to the states, too?
Holding: Yes, states must provide attorneys for people who can’t afford it.
Selective Incorporation - incorporated the 6th Amendment right to counsel, which now selectively applies it to the states as well as the federal.
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Students were suspended for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War.
Is wearing an armband protected as free speech? Do public school students even have the freedom of speech?
Holding: Yes, wearing armbands IS Protected as free speech.
Students have a right to symbolic speech based on 1st Amendment.
Students do not shed their rights when they walk in a schoolhouse.
NY Times vs. US (1971)
Nixon attempted to prevent the publication of the Pentagon Papers.
Can prior restraint be used to prevent stories from leaking on the grounds it might endanger national security?
Holding: Government DID NOT have the right to block the Pentagon Papers.
The 1st Amendment Freedom of Press creates a heavy presumption against prior restraint or censorship. It is difficult for the government to prove prior restraint is necessary.
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
Amish families didn’t want their kids in public high school for religious reasons, which violated a Wisconsin law for compulsory education.
Can states require children to go to school beyond 8th grade?
Holding: Compelling Amish children to attend public schools goes against the Free Exercise Clause of the 1st Amendment.
An individual’s interest in the free exercise of religion outweighs the state’s interest in education beyond 8th grade.
Americans can have any religious belief and exercise it freely
Roe v. Wade (1973)
A Texas state law prohibited abortions except to save a woman’s life, making it a crime to have abortions otherwise.
Does the Texas state law violate the right to an abortion?
Holding: A woman has a right to an abortion based on the right to privacy.
Selectively incorporated by the 14th Amendment. The right to privacy is inherent in the Bill of Rights (1st, 3rd, 4th, and 9th Amendments), but privacy is never mentioned.
The Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment protects against state action the right to privacy. A state law that broadly prohibits abortion without respect to the stage of pregnancy violates that right.
Overturned by Dobbs v Jackson
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
NC created districts that were oddly shaped in order to have a majority-minority for the purpose of increased representation for African Americans in Congress.
Gerrymandering is legal, but can states do it based on race?
Holding: Congressional districts CANNOT be drawn based on race
This violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Constitution is colorblind
Race can be a factor, but cannot be used to create
majority-minority districts.
US v. Lopez (1995)
A Texas student brought an unloaded gun to school, which violated the federal Gun Free Zone Act of 1990.
Did the federal government have the power to pass the Gun Free Zone Act?
Holding: Gun Free Zone Act was unconstitutional because guns in schools don’t substantially impact interstate commerce.
The 10th Amendment protects state power. (Reserved Power)
The Commerce Clause doesn’t give Congress unlimited power.
This took the Commerce Clause too far.
McDonald v. Chicago (2010)
The city of Chicago denied all licenses for handguns, which was an effective ban on guns.
Did this violate the 2nd Amendment right to bear arm?
Holding: Yes, this violated the 2nd Amendment’s right to bear arms for self-defense purposes and applied to the states.
Incorporated the right to bear arms to the states, not just federal, using the 14th Amendment.
DC v Heller (2008) applied the same logic to the federal government, but McDonald v. Chicago applied it to the states.
Citizens United v. F.E.C. (2010)
A law banned corporations and unions from making political ads within 60 days of a general election or 30 days of a primary election.
Did this law violate the 1st Amendment?
Holding: Corporations, unions, and special interests groups CAN raise and spend unlimited amounts of money for independent political expenditures. They are essentially people, therefore they have free speech rights.
1st Amendment Freedom of Speech protects these types of groups and their right to engage in political speech.
Spending money is a form of free speech.
