Toothless, have you heard of the supreme court? Can I tell you about it?

The Supreme Court held that Congress has implied powers derived from those listed in Article I, Section 8.

McCulloch v. Maryland

In 1818, the state of Maryland passed legislation to impose taxes on the Second Bank of the US. James Mculloch refused to pay these taxes.

In a unanimous decision, the SC decided that Congress could not impose tax on the bank.

6-1 decision

1819

US v Lopez

In 1994, Alfonzo Lopez carried a concealed weapon into his school. He was charged with carrying a weapon in a school zone.

US v. Lopez preserved the system of federalism, which delegates certain powers to states and certain powers to the federal government. It upheld the principle that states have control of local issues, like gun possession on school grounds.

The court ruled that Congress was acting unconstitutionally when passing under the Commerce Clause when it passed a law prohibiting gun possession in local school zones.

5-4 decision

1995

Engel v Vitale

The NY Board of Regents oragnized a short prayer for all students to say at the beginning of the school day. Ag roup of people argued that it violated the Establishment clause.

The state cannot hold prayers in public schools, even if participation is not required and the prayer is not tied to a particular religion.

The Supreme Court ruled that school-sponsored prayer in public schools violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

6-1 decision

1962

Wisconsin v Yoder

Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller, amish parents, got in trouble for not sending their kids to school after 8th grade. They did this because it was against their religious beliefs.

The Court held that individual's interests in the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment outweighed the State's interests in compelling school attendance beyond the eighth grade.

A state law requiring that children attend school past eighth grade violates the parents' constitutional right to direct the religious upbringing of their children.

7-2 decision

1972

Tinker v Des Moines

A group of kids held a meeting and decided to wear black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. The school learned about it and said that anybody wearing an amrband would be suspended. Mary Beth Tinker wore an armband and was sent home.

The court decided that the armbands were pure speech, and were allowed. They held that students did not lose their first amendment rights when they stepped onto school property.

7-2 decision

1969

The court found that the First Amendment applied to public schools, and school officials could not censor student speech unless it disrupted the educational process.

NY Times Co. v US

In what became known as the "Pentagon Papers Case," the Nixon Administration attempted to prevent the New York Times and Washington Post from publishing materials belonging to a classified Defense Department study regarding the history of United States activities in Vietnam. The President argued that prior restraint was necessary to protect national security.

The Court held that the government did not overcome the "heavy presumption against" prior restraint of the press in this case.Justice Brennan reasoned that since publication would not cause an inevitable, direct, and immediate event imperiling the safety of American forces, prior restraint was unjustified.

Defended the First Amendment right of free press against prior restraint by the government.

6-3 decision

1971

Schenck v US

During World War I, socialists Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer distributed leaflets declaring that the draft violated the Thirteenth Amendment prohibition against involuntary servitude. The leaflets urged the public to disobey the draft, but advised only peaceful action. Schenck was charged with conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act of 1917 by attempting to cause insubordination in the military and to obstruct recruitment. 

The Court held that the Espionage Act did not violate the First Amendment and was an appropriate exercise of Congress’ wartime authority.

The freedom of speech protection afforded in the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment could be restricted if the words spoken or printed represented to society a “clear and present danger.”

Unanimous decision

1919

Gideon v Wainwright

Clarence Earl Gideon was charged in Florida state court with felony breaking and entering. When he appeared in court without a lawyer, Gideon requested that the court appoint one for him. According to Florida state law, however, an attorney may only be appointed to an indigent defendant in capital cases, so the trial court did not appoint one. Gideon represented himself in trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. Gideon filed a habeas corpus petition in the Florida Supreme Court, arguing that the trial court's decision violated his constitutional right to be represented by counsel.

The Sixth Amendment's guarantee of counsel in criminal cases is a fundamental right, essential to a fair trial

In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Hugo L. Black, the Court held that it was consistent with the Constitution to require state courts to appoint attorneys for defendants who could not afford to retain counsel on their own.

Roe v Wade

Jane Roe filed a lawsuit against Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, where she resided, challenging a Texas law making abortion illegal except by a doctor’s orders to save a woman’s life.

Inherent in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is a fundamental “right to privacy” that protects a pregnant woman’s choice whether to have an abortion. However, this right is balanced against the government’s interests in protecting women's health and protecting “the potentiality of human life.” The Texas law challenged in this case violated this right.

The right to liberty in the Constitution, which protects personal privacy, includes the right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy.

7-2 decision

1973