1. NOTES: Landmark Supreme Court Cases
Learning Target 3:
Civil Rights Cases

2. Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott – slave sued for freedom after his owner took him to live in free state
Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not citizens
Slaves did not have any protected rights
Set stage for Civil War

3. 1)Fourteenth Amendment
Right to Due Process and Equal Protection of the Law
Definition of Citizenship
Ratified after Civil War
Defined citizenship (natural born or naturalized)
Applied due process to the States
Guaranteed citizens equal protection of the law

4. Homer Plessy

5. Segregated Railroad Cars “Separate but Equal Facilities”
2) Plessy v. Ferguson
Segregated Railroad Cars
“Separate but Equal Facilities”
Challenged segregation laws in Louisiana
Claimed 14th Amendment right to equal protection
Court upheld principle of “separate but equal”
Provided legal basis for segregation and “Jim Crow” laws

6. End of Segregation in Schools
Thurgood Marshall and fellow NAACP lawyers
News of the Decision

7. 3) Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Segregated School in Topeka, KS
Linda Brown and Her Family
Challenged segregation in public schools
Court reinterpreted equal protection clause of 14th Amendment
“Separate but equal” = inherently unequal – overturned Plessy decision
Ended segregation in schools & guaranteed equal protection

8. Ernesto Miranda

9. Text of the Miranda Warning
4) Miranda v. Arizona
Suspect Under Arrest
Text of the Miranda Warning
Suspect confessed without being read his rights
Decision reaffirmed: right to remain silent and not answer questions without a lawyer
Expanded 5th Amendment Protection against self-incrimination

10. Fourteenth Amendment Cases
Affirmative Action - Government programs that give preference to minority groups in order to address past discrimination
Pros: Programs try to correct past discrimination and give minorities opportunities
Cons: Might result in “reverse discrimination” against non-minority groups

11. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
Bakke was denied admission to UC Davis medical school when preference was given to minority applicants
Bakke sued claiming his 14th Amendment rights to equal protection were violated
Court ruled that race could only be used as one criteria for admission, it could not be the only criteria

12. Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena
Adarand Constructors was denied a government contract when preference was given to a minority owned company
Adarand sued claiming their right to due process and equal protection under the 5th and 14th amendments was violated
Court established a two-part test for affirmative action programs – 1) program must further a compelling government interest; 2) it must be “narrowly tailored”.

13. United States v. Virginia
A female student was denied admission to VMI – an all-male military academy funded by the state of Virginia
Student sued claiming her 14th amendment right to equal protection was violated
Court ruled that a male-only policy violated the 14th Amendment – state could not provide a service for men that it did not make available to women