Important Cases found on Previous AP Tests
1 st Amendment court cases
1. Tinker v Des Moines - Dress codes
2. Gitlow v. N.Y. - Incorporation Doctrine
3. Lemon v. Kurtzman - Aid to churches follows set guidelines
4. Engel v. Vitale - Prayer in schools is unconstitutional
5. School District of Abington Township v. Pennsylvania v. Schempp - Prayer violates establishment clause
6. Near v. Minnesota (1931) - No prior restraint censorship
7. Schneck v. U.S. (1919) – Government could restrict inflammatory rhetoric
8. Brandenburg v. Ohio - Can incite without lawless action
9. Reynolds v. US (polygamy and Mormon church) State prevails
10. Roth v. U.S. - Obscenity cannot be protected by the 1st
11. Miller v. California - Community standards sets Obscenity but what is lewd or offensive?
12. N.Y. Times v. Sullivan - Malice
13. Texas v. Johnson - Flag burning is symbolic speech
14. Oregon v. Smith - Drug use. Laws prevail
15. U.S. v. Playboy Entertainment Group - Target block v. ban
16. Red Lion v. FCC – Government can restrict broadcasts.
17. Reno v. ACLU - 1st Amendment applies to internet
18. Ashcroft v. ACLU – US must use filtering software for porn
19. NY Times v. US (1971) - Pentagon papers can be published. No prior restraint
20. DeJonge v. Oregon (1937) - Invalidated state laws Freedom of Assembly
Other Amendments:
21. Mapp v. Ohio- Exclusionary rule holds for states too.
22. Miranda v. Arizona - Police questioning of suspects
23. Jacobson v. U.S. - Is it or is it not entrapment
24. Gideon v. Wainright - Felony charged defendants need counsel
25. Betts v. Brady - Only capital punishment defendants get counsel
26. Fuhrman v. Georgia - Sentencing too random, but capital punishment is OK
27. Harmelin v. Michigan - Severity is not necessarily cruel
28. Gregg v. Georgia - Capital Punish is severe, but not cruel
29. McGlesky v. Kemp - Capital Pun does not violate 14th Amend
30. Griswold v. Connecticut - Privacy issue over birth control 9th
31. Roe v. Wade - Trimester ruling unleashed abortion issue
32. Webster v. Reproductive Health Services - States can control who performs abortions, i.,e. state employees
33. Rust v. Sullivan - No federal funds for planning abortions
34. Planned Parenthood v. Casey - Abortions can be regulated
35. Sternberg v. Carhart - Partial birth abortion is legal
36. Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health - Patients can refuse medical treatment
(Informed Suicide)

37. Board of Education v. Earls –Drug Testing is not unreasonable search.
38. US v. Drayton et al – Weakened exclusionary rule without empowering police
39. Atkins v VA. - Outlawed death penalty for mentally retarded.
40. Hamdi v. Rumsfeld - Security conditions do not revoke a captured combatant’s rights to redress his/her grievances.
41. District of Columbia v. Heller Right to bear arms 2 nd Amendment; city cannot forbid weapons.
42. Ring v. AZ., Juries must deliver death sentences.
43. Kyllo v. US - High Tech surveillance needs a warrant
44. Dickerson v. US – Cannot undermine Miranda. It is a constitutional rule
45. VRA (1965) - Puerto Ricans can register to vote even if they cannot speak
46. Hernandez v. Texas (1953) - Local judicial administrators could not exclude Latinos from juries
47. Miranda v Arizona (1965) - Rights have to be made known (for all people, but Hispanics are more likely to have language issues)
48. San Antonio Independent School District v Rodriguez (1972) - The Equal Protection Clause does not require equal funding among school districts, even when the poor districts are heavily
Latino
49. Espinoza v Farah Manufacturing Company (1973) - CRA does NOT prevent companies from higher illegal aliens
50. Plyler v Doe (1981) - Overturned TX law that forbade giving children of illegal aliens an education
51. INS v Caroza-Fonseca (1986) - Improve the ability of political refugees to seek political asylum in the United States
52. US v. Verdugo-Urquidez (1989) - The Fourth Amendment does not apply to a Mexican national’s property in Mexico, even though American agents conducted the search
53. Johnson v. Degrandy (1993) - The Court sided with the Florida legislature’s refusal to create majority-Latino state legislative districts
54. US v. Brigoni-Ponce (1999) - Border patrol cannot simply pull you over based on what you look like
55. Alexander v. Sandoval (2000) - Alabama may continue to give the driver’s license examinations only in English
56.
Regents of U of California v. Bakke (1978) – Race can be a factor in decisions, but it cannot be THE deciding factor.
57. McDonald v Chicago (2009) – 2 nd
Amendment applies to states, but only for self-protection.
(Still not fully incorporated)
Women’s Rights/Cases
- Reed v. Reed (1971)
- Orr v. Orr (1978)
- Civil Rights Act of 1972
- Rostker v. Goldberg (1981)
- The Equal Rights Amendment
- Title IX legislation