Important Cases
The list of important cases can be endless. The cases listed below are important and will allow you to
understand the relationships of the branches of government, the major principles of our Constitution, and the
policy making process. To look up any Supreme Court case, you can use: http://www.oyez.org/.
AP Govt Concept Area
Case Name + Year
Constitutional Underpinnings
(Structure & Government
Powers)
Gibbons v. Ogden
Constitutional Underpinnings
(Representation)
Constitutional Underpinnings
(Federalism)
Civil Rights/Civil Liberties
(Expression: speech, press,
assembly, religion)
Civil Rights/Civil Liberties
(Due Process)
Civil Rights/Civil Liberties
(Privacy)
Marbury v. Madison
Barron v. Baltimore
McCulloch v. Maryland
U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton
Baker v. Carr
Wesberry v. Sanders
U.S. v. Lopez
U.S. v. Morrison
U.S. v. Printz
Gonzalez v. Raich
Engel v. Vitale
Morse v. Frederick
Miller v. California
Roth v. U.S.
Texas v. Johnson
Eichman v. U.S.
Tinker v. Des Moines
McConnell v. FEC
Buckley v. Valeo
Gitlow v. New York
Lemon v. Kurtzman
NY Times v. Sullivan
Near v. Minnesota
Employment Division v. Smith
Village of Skokie v. National
Socialist Party
Citizens United v. FEC
Gideon v. Wainwright
Mapp v. Ohio
Miranda v. Arizona
Wolf v. Colorado
Bowers v. Hardwick
Significance of Case
Civil Rights/Civil Liberties
(Equal Protection)
Lawrence v. Texas
Casey v. Planned Parenthood
Griswold v. Connecticut
Roe v. Wade
Webster v. Health Productive
Services
Brown v. Board of Education
Plessy v. Ferguson
University of California v.
Bakke
Swann v. Charlotte
Mecklenburg