Land Mark Supreme Court
Cases
Civics and Economics
Swann V. Charlotte Mecklenburg
Board of Education-1969
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Swann V. Charlotte Mecklenburg
Board of Education-1969
Issue: Busing students to schools
outside of their district in order to
achieve integration.
Background: School officials at the
large public school district of
Charlotte Mecklenburg, North
Carolina were acting slowly to
federal court ordered integration
Swann V. Charlotte Mecklenburg
Board of Education-1969
Decision:Court held that busing was
an appropriate remedy for the
problem of racial imbalance.
Lasting Impact: Prohibited Racial
Segregation in schools. Busing was
used as a way to “properly”
integrate schools
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S.
1966
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S.
1966
Background: The owner of the Heart of
Atlanta motel refused to rent rooms to
blacks, claiming that Congress had
overstepped its authority with the Civil
Rights Act of 1964.

Civil Rights Act 1964: Made discrimination
in private businesses illegal.
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S.
1966
Issue: Racial segregation and interstate
commerce
Decision:
Racial segregation of
private facilities engaged in interstate
commerce was found unconstitutional.

Based upon the commerce clause
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S.
1966
Lasting Impact: Privately owned
accommodations can not discriminate
upon someone because they are
involved in interstate commerce.
McCullough v. Maryland 1819
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McCullough v. Maryland 1819
Background: State of Maryland tried to
stop the creation of the Second Bank of
the United States by imposing a tax on
all of the notes (money) that was not
chartered in Maryland.
Issue: Federalism, States Rights, and
Necessary and Proper Clause
McCullough v. Maryland 1819
Decision: Supreme Court stated that the
power of the national government is
supreme and therefore the state of
Maryland could not tax a federal
agency.

The bank was created because it was
necessary.
McCullough v. Maryland 1819
Lasting Impact: Federal agencies can
not be taxed by state government.
Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824
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Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824
Background:

New York granted Aaron Ogden the Exclusive right
to operate his steamboat company in New York
harbor.
 Thomas Gibbons was operating a competing ferry
service licensed by Congress.
 Ogden obtained permission from New York stating that
Gibbons could not operate his company in the waters.
 Gibbons sued
Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824
Issue: Federalism, States rights,
Interstate Commerce
Decision: Supreme Court ruled in the
favor of Gibbons stating that the power
to control interstate commerce was a
power upheld by the federal
government, not state government.
Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824
Lasting Impact: Individual States can
not control interstate trade.
Furman V. Georgia-1972
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Furman V. Georgia-1972
Background: William Henry Furman
was robbing a house and the owner
came home. He claimed that has he
was running to leave he tripped and he
weapon fired killing the owner. Furman
was tried for murder and found guilty.
Furman V. Georgia-1972
Issue:



Criminal Procedure,
Cruel and Unusual Punishment,
Death Penalty
Furman V. Georgia-1972
Decision: The Supreme Court held that
the imposition of the death penalty
constituted cruel and unusual
punishment and violated the
Constitution.
Furman V. Georgia-1972
Impact:The Court's decision forced
states and the national legislature to
rethink their statutes for capital
offenses to assure that the death
penalty would not be administered in a
capricious (impulsive) or discriminatory
manner.
Gregg V. Georgia-1976
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Gregg V. Georgia-1976
Background:A jury found Gregg guilty
of armed robbery and murder and
sentenced him to death. Gregg
challenged his remaining death
sentence for murder, claiming that his
capital sentence was a "cruel and
unusual" punishment that violated the
Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Gregg V. Georgia-1976
Issue:



Criminal Procedure,
Cruel and Unusual Punishment,
Death Penalty
Gregg V. Georgia-1976
Decision:The Court held that a punishment of
death did not violate the Eighth and
Fourteenth Amendments under all
circumstances.
Lasting Impact: In extreme criminal cases,
such as when a defendant has been
convicted of deliberately killing another, the
careful and judicious use of the death penalty
may be appropriate if carefully employed.
Gideon V. Wainwright-1963
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Gideon V. Wainwright-1963
Background:Clarence Gideon was
arrested for robbing a pool hall in
Florida. When asked for a court
appointed attorney the court refused
his request.
Gideon V. Wainwright-1963
Issue:



Rights of the accused
6th amendment rights
14th amendment rights
Gideon V. Wainwright-1963
Decision: The court said that all states
must provide an attorney in all felony
an capital cases for people who can not
afford them.
Lasting Impact:If a person can not
afford an attorney the government will
provide them one and pay for it.
Regents of the University of
California V. Bakke-1978
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Regents of the University of
California V. Bakke-1978
Background: -Allan Bakke was a highly
qualified graduate who had applied to the
University of California Medical School. At the
time the school had set aside specific slots for
minorities in order to increase minority
presence is the school due to affirmative
action. Bakke. He tried on two separate
attempts to get into the school but was
denied. He sued the school because he felt
he was discriminated upon due to his race.
Regents of the University of
California V. Bakke-1978
“Affirmative action” means positive
steps taken to increase the
representation of women and minorities
in areas of employment, education, and
business from which they have been
historically excluded.
Regents of the University of
California V. Bakke-1978
Issue:


Affirmative Action
14th Amendment-Equal Protection Clause
Decision: The court held that a university
could consider an applicant’s race in making
admissions decisions, but the use of strict
racial quotas in affirmative action programs
was not permissive.
Regents of the University of
California V. Bakke-1978
Lasting Impact:

Universities may use race as an admission
factor but they can not save certain
positions specifically for a racial group.
Bethel School District v. Fraser1986
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Bethel School District v. Fraser1986
Background: Senior, Matthew Fraser gave a
speech nominating a friend to vice president
of the student body. The speech was filled
was sexual innuendos that prompted action
from the administration.


He was suspended for two days and could not
speak at his graduation ceremony.
His parents appealed the punishment and sued
the school district.
Fraser’s Speech
"I know a man who is firm - he's firm in his
pants, he's firm in his shirt, his character is
firm - but most [of] all, his belief in you the
students of Bethel, is firm. Jeff Kuhlman is a
man who takes his point and pounds it in. If
necessary, he'll take an issue and nail it to the
wall. He doesn't attack things in spurts - he
drives hard, pushing and pushing until finally he succeeds. Jeff is a man who will go to the
very end - even the climax, for each and every
one of you. So please vote for Jeff Kuhlman, as
he'll never come between us and the best our
school can be [long pause after the word
"come"
Bethel School District v. Fraser1986
Issue: First Amendment Right to free
speech

Does the First Amendment prevent a
school district from disciplining a high
school student for giving a lewd speech at
a high school assembly?
Bethel School District v. Fraser1986
Decision: The Court found that it was
appropriate for the school to prohibit
the use of vulgar and offensive
language. The First Amendment did not
prohibit schools from prohibiting vulgar
and lewd speech since such discourse
was inconsistent with the "fundamental
values of public school education."
Bethel School District v. Fraser1986
Lasting Impact: The Bethel case shows
the Court re-examining the issue of
student expression in the schools and
finding that certain limits on expression
are permitted by the First Amendment.
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Tinker v. Des Moines-1969
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Tinker v. Des Moines-1969
Background:During the Vietnam War some students
in Des Moines, Iowa wore black armbands to school
to protest American involvement in the War.
Two days earlier the school officials adopted the
policy banning the wearing of armbands to school.
When students arrived wearing the armbands they
were sent home and suspended.
The students argued that it was a violation of the
first amendment rights.
Tinker v. Des Moines-1969
Issue:


Black armbands in Protest of the Vietnam
War
First Amendment Freedom of Symbolic
Speech as a form of protest
 Symbolic Speech-is a legal term for an action
that expresses an opinion or idea non-verbally
 Examples: Flag burning, cross burning
Tinker v. Des Moines-1969
Decision: The Supreme Court sided with
the students. The Supreme Court went
on to rule that a public school could not
suspend students who wore black
armbands to school to symbolize their
protest for the war.
Tinker v. Des Moines-1969
Impact: Students are allowed to engage in
symbolic speech in school settings as long as
it does not infringe on the rights of others.
Famous quote: “ it can hardly be argued that
either students or teachers she their
constitutional rights of freedom of speech or
expression at the schoolhouse gate.
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Hazelwood School District v.
Kuhlmeier-1988
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Hazelwood School District v.
Kuhlmeier-1988
Background: The U.S. Supreme Court held for
the first time that public school officials may
impose some limits on what appears in
school-sponsored student publications.
The high school paper was published as part
of a journalism class. The principal at
Hazelwood usually reviewed the school paper
before it was published, and in this case he
deleted two articles that the staff had written.
Hazelwood School District v.
Kuhlmeier-1988
One of the deleted articles covered the issue of student
pregnancy and included interviews with three students who had
become pregnant while attending school. (There was also an
article about several students whose parents had been divorced,
however the students' names were not disclosed in the article.)
To keep the students' identity secret, the staff used
pseudonyms instead of the students' names. The principal said
he felt the anonymity of the students was not sufficiently
protected and that the girls' discussion of their use or non-use
of birth control was inappropriate for some of the younger
students who were 14 year old freshmen.
Hazelwood School District v.
Kuhlmeier
Issue: First Amendment Rights-Free
Speech, Censorship
Decision:First amendment rights to
students was not violated when their
articles of censored
I
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
Impact: School publications represents
the school, student body, and school
system; therefore schools
administrators can censor information
that does not reflect the values of the
school.
In Re Gault, 1967
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In Re Gault, 1967
Background: Gerald F. Gault (15 years
old) was arrested making obscene
phone calls while on probation.


Police arrested him without notifying his
parents at work.
In juvenile court he was found guilty and
sent to a reform school until the age of 21.
In Re Gault, 1967
Issue: Due Process Clause listed under
the 14th amendment.
Decision: The Supreme court
determined the proceedings of the
Juvenile Court were unconstitutional
due to violation of due process clause
of the 14th amendment
In Re Gault, 1967
Impact-Police and Juvenile Courts must
follow the due process rights as listed in
the 14th amendment for minors.

Clause states: adequate notice of charges,
notification of both the parents and the
child of the juvenile's right to counsel,
opportunity for confrontation and crossexamination at the hearings, and adequate
safeguards against self-incrimination.
Roe V. Wade, 1971
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Roe v. Wade, 1971
Background: Jane Roe, in Texas,
wanted to have am abortion. Texas law
prohibited abortion except in situations
to save the mother’s life.
Issue: Right to Privacy, Legalized
Abortion
Roe v. Wade
Decision: The Court held that a
woman's right to an abortion fell within
the right to privacy (recognized in
Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by
the Fourteenth Amendment.
Roe v. Wade, 1971
Impact:

The decision gave a woman total
autonomy over the pregnancy during the
first trimester and defined different levels
of state interest for the second and third
trimesters.
 46 states were affected by the ruling