Court Cases to Review for the A.P. Exam
Zenger Case (1734) - established freedom of the press. Slander is
defined by falsehood, not by whether it is positive or negative.
Marbury v. Madison (1803) - doctrine of judicial review is established.
Fletcher v. Peck (1810) – upheld the validity of contracts.
Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) – upheld the validity of
contracts.
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) – Congress could charter a bank under
the “implied powers.” Also state could not tax feds because the “power
to tax equals the power to destroy.”
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) – the feds have authority to regulate
interstate commerce.
Cherokee Nation v US (1831) – first attempt by the Cherokee nation to
seek redress in its dealings with the state of Georgia over land
confiscation. Jackson refused, “Mr. Marshall has made his decisions,
now let him enforce it!”
Worcester v. Georgia (1832) – federal jurisdiction over Indian affairs is
absolute.
Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge (1837) – rights of private
property have to be balanced with the rights of the well being of the
community.
*Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) – labor unions was not conspiracies as
long as their methods were “honorable and peaceful.”
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) – Congress cannot prohibit slavery in the
territories; blacks are not citizens.
Ex Parte Milligan (1866) – military tribunals cannot try civilians, even
during wartime in areas where civil courts are open.
Munn v. Illinois (1877) – states may set rates for grain storage; private
property dedicated to public use is subject to government regulation.
First of many state laws pressuring state governments to regulate the
railroad industry known as Grange Laws.
Wabash Case (1886) – individual stats had no power to regulate
interstate commerce. Effectively killing the Grange Laws, the court
stated that state governments could no longer regulate interstate trade,
that’s only the responsibility of the feds. Led to the ICC.
US v. EC Knight Company (1888) – Sherman Anti-Trust Act does not
apply to a trust that was “a necessity of life.”
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – declared that “separate but equal” did not
violate the 14th amendment. Became the legal basis for segregation.
Williams v. Mississippi (1898) – upheld practice of literacy tests
disenfranchising blacks.
Insular Cases (1901) – Territories gained in the Spanish American War
were no longer to be considered “foreign countries” but neither were
they assumed to be a part of the US and their guaranteed rights.
Northern Securities Company v. US (1904) – a holding company formed
for the express purpose of limiting competition is guilty of restraint of
trade and in violation of the federal antitrust acts and enhanced TR’s
reputation as a trustbuster.
Lochner v. New York (1905) - overturned a law limiting the number of
hours a company may require a worker to work; said it infringed on the
freedom of contracts upsetting Progressive reformers.
Muller v. Oregon (1908) – upheld an Oregon law limiting the number of
hours women could be employed in industry.
Bunting v. Oregon (1917) – extended Muller decision to include all
industrial workers and a 10-hour workday, effectively overturning
Lochner and pleasing Progressive reformers.
Schenck v. US (1919) – freedom of speech may be curtailed if exercising
that right posed a “clear and present danger” to others or to the state.
**Scopes “Monkey” Trial (1925) - Clarence Darrow and W.J. Bryan
debated evolution and creationism to an inconclusive end.
**Sacco and Venzetti Trial (1927) Italian immigrants found guilty and
executed officially for murder but viewed by many as martyrs in a class
struggle.
Schecter Poultry Corporation v. US (1919) declared NIRA
unconstitutional. Began to persuade FDR to attempt his “courtpacking.”
US v Butler (1936) – declared the AAA unconstitutional.
Hirbayashi v. US (1943) – declared that the application of curfews in
Executive 9066 against members of a minority group were
constitutional when the nation was at war.
Engel v. Vitale (1962) and School District of Abington Township v.
Schempp (1963) – in both cases the Court invoked the first
amendment’s separation of church and state clause and prohibited
required prayers and bible reading in public schools.
Gideon V. Wainwright (1963) - Defendants must be provided lawyers if
they cannot afford one themselves.
Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) – Defendants cannot be interrogated or
induced to confess a crime without defense counsel being present.
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) – Court struck down a state law that
prohibited the use of contraceptives, even among married couples.
Court created a “right of privacy.”
Miranda v. Arizona (1966) – Defendants must be aware of their
“Miranda Rights.”
Reed v. Reed (1971 and Frontiero v. Richardson (1973) – both cases
challenged sex discrimination in state laws and in the work place.
Roe v. Wade (1973) – Guaranteed the right to abortion until he 6th
month of pregnancy.
Bakke v. University of California at Davis (1978) – Affirmative Action
or taking into account racial factors with applicants was upheld as
constitutional but relying on hard numerical quotas alone was not.
Korematsu v. US (1944) – declared that the Exclusion Order 9066 was
constitutional and that the need to protect against espionage
outweighed the rights of Japanese Americans.
US v. Wheeler (1978) – Indian tribes possessed a “unique and limited”
sovereignty, subject to the will of only Congress not the states.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS (1954) – Court reversed
Plessy v. Ferguson decision and all Jim Crow laws ruling that “separate
but equal” was inherently unconstitutional.
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988) – Court ruled that educators do not
violate the First Amendment of freedom of speech or press when
editing content in student newspapers.