Miranda Case
• Miranda v. Arizona
• 5-4 vote, June 13, 1966
• Miranda is one of the best-known cases in the history of the Supreme Court.
It represents the Court's determination to treat even the lowliest of
criminals with the same dignity and respect as the wealthiest celebrity.
Ernesto Miranda was arrested in Phoenix and taken directly to the police
station. A victim of rape and kidnapping identified him as the perpetrator.
The police then brought Miranda into the interrogation room, questioned
him for two hours, and received a signed confession. The police had never
advised Miranda of his right to an attorney or the fact that anything he said
could be used against him in a court of law. Although Miranda's treatment
was actually quite mild, compared to some of the other methods used at the
time, the Supreme Court still found in favor of him, holding that "the
defendant's confession was inadmissible because he was not in any way
[informed] of his right to council nor was his privilege against selfincrimination effectively protected in any other manner."
Abington Case
• Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)
• At Abington High School, as part of morning exercises,
verse from the Holy Bible were read over the
loudspeaker. The students were asked to stand and
repeat the Lord's Prayer right before the flag salute.
Parents were informed that students had the right to
leave the room and not participate in the reading or stay
in the room and participate. The Schempp family, who
were of the Unitarian faith, challenged the state law
claiming that it was unconstitutional in supporting
religion and specific denominations at that. The
Supreme Court reaffirmed the First Amendment's
forbiddance of laws building the establishment of a
religion.
Gideon Case
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
• Clarence Gideon, a man in Florida, was charged with breaking
into a pool hall and taking money from vending machines
there. In Florida, this was considered a felony. At his hearing,
Gideon asked that the court appoint a lawyer to represent him
since he could not afford one. The court denied him this,
noting a Florida law which allowed counsel only in capitaloffense cases. Gideon went to trial and did the best he could,
defending himself, but was found guilty and sentenced to five
years in jail. He appealed to the Supreme Court, stating his
right to counsel under the Fourteenth Amendment had been
violated. The Court incorporated the Sixth Amendment's right
to counsel and reversed his conviction, allowing him to be
retried, this time with the help of counsel. Gideon went back
to trial and this time he was found innocent of the charges.
Brown Case
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
(1954)
• An African-American girl, Linda Carol Brown, was
not allowed to attend a school four blocks from her
house because it was for white students. Instead, she
had to walk twenty-one blocks to the nearest allblack school. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme
Court reversed the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision
saying that separate but equal is inherently unequal.
In a follow up case one year later, the Court stated
that local school systems should develop their own
plans for desegregation to take effect "with all
deliberate speed."
Mapp Case
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• Cleveland police, without a warrant, raided Ms.
Mapp's home and found obscene material even
though the Fourth Amendment, as incorporated by
the Fourteenth Amendment's "due process clause,"
protected her from improper law enforcement
procedures. The Supreme Court extended the
"exclusionary rule" to citizens in State courts, stating
that condemning unreasonable searches would be
useless unless the evidence obtained in these
searches was excluded
Roe
• Roe v. Wade (1973)
• A single, pregnant, Texas woman, under the pseudonym of Jane Roe,
challenged anti-abortion laws by stating that they violated her rights under
the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment states that no state can
"deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law."
The Supreme Court had to decide whether a fetus was a person or not. The
Court upheld Roe's claim that her right to privacy entitled her to an
abortion. However, they went on to say that the right to privacy is not
absolute. "A state may properly assert important interests in safeguarding
health [of the mother], in maintaining medical standards [how and by
whom abortions are performed], and in protecting potential life." The Court
ruled on this by saying: 1. Abortions in the first three months of pregnancy
cannot be limited by the states excepting that they may require that doctors
perform them. 2. The state may set the conditions under which abortions
may performed during the second three months of pregnancy to safeguard
the health of the mother. 3. The state may outlaw abortions during the last
three months of pregnancy to protect the "viable fetus," excepting cases in
which the mother's life or health is threatened.
Regents
• Regents of the University of California at Davis v. Bakke (1978)
• Allan Bakke, a Vietnam veteran, wanted to become a doctor. However, he
had been turned down by eleven medical schools. He then learned that the
University of California at Davis, a local medical school, had accepted
minority students who were less qualified academically. In suing them on
grounds of reverse discrimination, it was brought to light that the
University, as part of their affirmative action program, held sixteen places
each year for "disadvantaged students." The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling,
upheld the constitutionality of affirmative action. However, it also ruled
that Bakke must be accepted to U.C. at Davis Medical School because they
used race as the sole reason for reserving sixteen places for minority
students. The University could consider race in admitting students. So,
while upholding the policy of affirmative action, the Court decided that a
system of strict quotas based on race was in violation of the Civil Rights Act
of1964 and thus unconstitutional.
Dred Scott
• Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
• Dred Scott, a slave owned by a Dr. Emerson, was
taken from Missouri to a free state and then back to
Missouri again. Scott sued, claiming that his
residence in a free territory granted him freedom. In
a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court decided that Congress
did not have the power to prohibit slavery in the
territories, making the already repealed Missouri
Compromise of1820 unconstitutional. Furthermore,
the Court went on to state that blacks were not
citizens of the United States and could not become
citizens and therefore they could not sue in a court.