AP Gov: Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Established judicial review: the Supreme Court can declare laws unconstitutional.

Congress has implied powers under the Necessary and Proper Clause (it could create a national bank), and a state cannot tax a federal institution (Supremacy Clause).

Congress has broad power to regulate interstate commerce, including navigation; a state monopoly on steamboats conflicted with federal law.

Upheld racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine.

Speech that creates a “clear and present danger” (here, leaflets urging resistance to the WWI draft) is not protected by the First Amendment.

Upheld the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII as a wartime necessity. Widely condemned and formally repudiated by the Court in 2018.

Unanimously ruled that segregated public schools violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, overturning Plessy in education.

Applied the exclusionary rule to the states: evidence from an illegal search cannot be used in court (4th Amendment).

Federal courts can hear cases about legislative redistricting, opening the way for the “one person, one vote” principle.

School-sponsored prayer in public schools violates the Establishment Clause, even if voluntary and nondenominational.

States must provide a lawyer to defendants in felony cases who cannot afford one (6th Amendment, applied through the 14th).

Police must tell suspects in custody about their right to remain silent and to have a lawyer before questioning (5th Amendment).

Students wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War was protected symbolic speech; students keep free speech rights at school unless it causes substantial disruption.

The Pentagon Papers case: the government could not stop publication. Prior restraint carries a heavy presumption against it.

Amish families could not be forced to send children to school past 8th grade; their Free Exercise rights outweighed the state's interest.

Found that the right to privacy covered a woman's decision to have an abortion. Overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022).

Executive privilege is not absolute; Nixon had to hand over the Watergate tapes.

Burning the American flag as political protest is protected symbolic speech.

Congressional districts drawn mainly by race must meet strict scrutiny under the Equal Protection Clause (racial gerrymandering).

The Gun-Free School Zones Act went beyond Congress's commerce power: the first major limit on the Commerce Clause in decades (a win for federalism).

Corporations, unions and other groups can spend unlimited money on independent political communications; limits violated free speech.

The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms applies to state and local governments (incorporation).

The 14th Amendment guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry in every state.

Selective incorporation

Establishment: government can't set up or favor religion. Free Exercise: people can practice their beliefs.