1. Supreme Court Cases

2. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
Ruled that people of African descent—whether or not they were slaves—could never be US citizens
Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories.
Slaves could not sue in court
Slaves were private property
Could not be taken away from their owners without due process.

3. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Plessy was one-eighth black and seven-eighths white, under Louisiana state law he was classified as an African-American, and thus required to sit in the "colored" car. When Plessy refused to leave the white car and move to the colored car, he was arrested and jailed.
Created “separate but equal” policy

5. Schenck v. United States (1919)
The circumstances of wartime permit greater restrictions on free speech than would be allowable during peacetime.
Clear and present danger test
"The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent."
Cannot yell fire in a crowded movie theatre

6. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)
Started because white school was closer to where she lived
Desegregated schools
“Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

7. Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and require its recitation in public schools
Violated Establishment Clause

9. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Between midnight and 8:00 am on June 3, 1961, a burglary occurred at the Bay Harbor Pool Room in Panama City, Florida. Someone broke a window, smashed the cigarette machine and jukebox, and stole money from both. Later that day, a witness reported that he had seen Clarence Earl Gideon in the poolroom at around 5:30 that morning leaving with a pint of wine and bulged pockets. Based on this accusation alone, the police arrested him and charged him with breaking and entering.
State courts are required under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants unable to afford their own attorneys or lawyers.

10. Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
The Court held that both inculpatory and exculpatory statements made in response to interrogation by a defendant in police custody will be admissible at trial only if the prosecution can show that the defendant was informed of the right to consult with an attorney before and during questioning and of the right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police, and that the defendant not only understood these rights, but voluntarily waived them.
Right to remain silent

11. Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) and Scopes v. Tennessee (1927)
Cannot teach creationism instead of evolution
Later could not teach them both…only evolution
Teaching creationism violated Establishment clause

12. Roe v. Wade (1973)
Most laws against abortion in the United States violated a constitutional right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Abortion until fetus viable
Abortion available afterwards to protect life of mother

13. University of California v. Bakke (1978)
Bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms the constitutionality of affirmative action programs giving equal access to minorities.
Unconstitutional because they discriminated against non-minority applicants
Rejecting "quotas", but allowing race to be one "factor" in college admissions to meet the compelling interest of "diversity"

14. Loving v. Virginia (1967)
Court ruled that Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute violated both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
The Supreme Court concluded that anti-miscegenation laws were racist and had been enacted to perpetuate white supremacy

15. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland
Necessary-and-Proper Clause in the Constitution

16. Texas v. Johnson (1989)
Burned flag in protest at Republican Convention 1984
The First Amendment literally does not allow the abridgment only of "speech", but the court reiterated their long recognition that its protection does not end at the spoken or written word.