This document summarizes key Supreme Court cases, listing the constitutional amendment and issue addressed in each case, and providing a brief 1-2 sentence description of the precedent set or legal principle established. A total of 30 cases are summarized, spanning various amendments and addressing issues including freedom of speech, search and seizure, due process, and more.

1. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Tinker v Des Moines
School District
1st Is the school banning
armband wearing, a
form of symbolic
protest, violating the
freedom of speech?
Yes
Symbolic speech
(armbands) allowed in
school

2. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Plessy v Ferguson 14th Is Louisiana's law
mandating racial
segregation on its
trains an
unconstitutional
infringement on both
the privileges and
immunities and the
equal protection
clauses of the
Fourteenth
Amendment?
Established separate
but equal doctrine

3. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Engel v Vitale 1st (establishment
clause)
Does reading of
nondenominational
prayer at start of
school day violate the
establishment clause?
School led prayer is
unconstitutional

4. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Texas v Johnson 1st (free exercise) Is the desecration of
an American flag, by
burning or otherwise,
a form of speech that
is protected under the
First Amendment?
Allowed flag burning
as symbolic speech

5. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Schenck v US 1st A socialist named
Charles Scheck
distributed anti-war
materials in the mail.
Are Schenck's actions
(words, expression)
protected by the free
speech clause of the
First Amendment?
The Supreme Court
found him guilty of
posing a clear and
present danger during
wartime
Case involving limits
on free speech.
Established the "clear
and present danger"
principle.

6. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Lemon v Kurtzman 1st Did the Rhode Island
and Pennsylvania
statutes violate the
First Amendment's
Establishment Clause
by making state
financial aid available
to "church- related
educational
institutions"?
Established guidelines
for government aid to
parochial/religious
schools

7. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
University of
California v Bakke
14th Were quotas on racial
University in
admissions process
unconstitutional?
Did the University of
California violate the
Fourteenth
Amendment's equal
protection clause, and
the Civil Rights Act of
1964, by practicing an
affirmative action
policy that resulted in
the repeated rejection
of Bakke's application
for admission to its
medical school?
Reverse
discrimination, quotas
unacceptable

8. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Gideon v Wainwright 6th Are states required to
provide a lawyer to
defendants who can’t
afford them in non-
capital cases?
Poor must be
provided an attorney
Right to attorney/
counsel, regardless of
eligibility to afford
one
In due process clause

9. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Oregon v Smith 1st (free exercise) Can a state deny
unemployment
benefits to a worker
fired for using illegal
drugs for religious
purposes?
Denied
unemployment
benefits for using
peyote on the job for
religious reasons

10. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Miranda v Arizona 5th & 6th Does police practice
of interrogating
individual without
notifying them of
their right to counsel
and their protection
violate self
incrimination?
Those arrested must
be read their rights

11. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Hazel v Kulmeier 1st Did principal’s
deletion of articles
violate students’
rights under 1st
amendment?
School officials can
limit students’
freedom of press
Schools are not
required to promote
particular types of
student speech.

12. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Roe v Wade 9th & 14th Does due process
clause of 14th protect
right to privacy,
individual rights to
obtain abortion, and
could states pass such
abortion laws when
they could violate the
rights of citizens?
Women’s right to
choose ruled
constitutional
Due process protects
the right to privacy,
allowing abortion,
disregarding state law
Forbade state control
over abortions during
1st trimester, some
protection on 2nd, and
protection of fetus on
3rd (states can ban
abortion when
mother’s health is in
danger)

13. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Brown v Board of
Education
14th Was the practice of
segregation in public
school really separate
but equal?
Desegregated public
schools, overturned
separate but equal
doctrine

14. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Reynolds v US 1st (free exercise) If religious freedom is
guaranteed under 1st
amendment and
polygamy church
doctrine, why not put
under practice?
Criminal acts may not
be defended by
freedom of religion
claims

15. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Mapp v Ohio 4th Were the confiscated
materials protected by
the First Amendment?
(May evidence
obtained through a
search in violation of
the Fourth
Amendment be
admitted in a state
criminal proceeding?)
Extended exclusionary
rule to state & local
levels
Evidence obtained in
violation of the 4th
can’t be used in court

16. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Snyder v Phelps 1st Does the First
Amendment protect
protesters at a funeral
from liability for
intentionally inflicting
emotional distress on
the family of the
deceased?
Public speech on
public sidewalk is okay
even if outrageous

17. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Kyllo v US 4th Does use of thermal-
imaging device to
detect relative
amounts of heat
emanating from
private home
constitute
unconstitutional
search?
A search warrant is
necessary for law
officers to use thermal
images against you

18. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Aderand v Pena 5th & 14th Does the 5th
amendment’s
guarantee of equal
protection require the
federal government’s
racial classification to
withstand strict
scrutiny?
Racial classifications
must pass strict
scrutiny, which is
applied to all race
based classification

19. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Gitlow v New York 1st & 14th is the NY law
punishing advocacy to
overthrow the
government by force
an unconstitutional
violation of the free
speech clause of the
14th?
Incorporated 1st
amendment free
speech to states
1st incorporation case

20. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Griswold v
Connecticut
9th Is the right to privacy
an unalienable right
protected by the Bill
of Rights?
Give substance to
privacy in the 9th
amendment
Right to privacy is
protected under
extension of self-
incrimination clause
of 15th
Prevents government
from regulating
abortion

21. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Hiibel v Nevada 5th Did the arrest &
conviction for not
telling the officer his
name violate his 4th &
5th rights?
Suspects must identify
themselves during
police stops

22. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Grutter v Bollinger 14th Does University of
Michigan Law School’s
use of racial
preferences in student
admissions violate
Equal Protections
Clause of 14th?
Reaffirms Bakke
decision that
admission to
Universities can’t be
based solely on race
Race was only one of
the many factors
considered to
determine the
applicant’s elegibility

23. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
McDonald v Chicago 2nd Does 2nd amendment
apply to states
incorporation by 14th
amendment’s
privileges &
immunities or due
process clauses &
made applicable to
states
2nd amendment, right
to bear arms,
incorporated

24. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Santa Fe v Doe 1st (establishment) Does Santa Fe school
district’s policy
permitting student
led, student initiated
prayer at football
games violate the
establishment clause?
Student led prayer at
football games is
unconstitutional

25. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
benton v Maryland 5th Is double jeopardy
applicable to the
states & was Benton
tried twice in this
case?
Incorporation into
states of 5th
amendment double
jeopardy

26. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
NY Times v Sullivan 1st Did Alabama’s libel
law, by not requiring
Sullivan to prove that
an ad personally
harmed him
unconstitutional?
Must prove malice to
receive damages for
libel
Libel must be proven
malicious &
disregardful of truth

27. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Edmonson v Leesville 6th May a private litigant
in a civil case use
preemptory
challenges to exclude
jurors based on race?
Race based use of
preemptory
challenges violates
5th’s due process
Fair Jury of peers

28. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Kelo v City of New
London
5th Does a city violate
5th’s takings clause if
the city takes private
property and sells it
for private
development, with
hopes that
development will help
the city’s economy?
Eminent domain may
be used to take
private property for
economic
development/
economic projects

29. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Roper v Sims 8th Does the execution of
minors violate the
prohibition of cruel &
unusual punishment
of 8th applied to states
through incorporation
doctrine of 14th?
Minors may not
receive death penalty

30. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Cooper v Aaron 10th Are state government
officials bound to
comply with Supreme
Court rulings & court
orders based on
Supreme Court
interpretation?
States must enforce
Supreme Court
decisions, even if they
don’t agree with them

31. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Printz v US 10th May Congress compel
a state or local
government to even
temporarily
implement and
administer a federal
regulatory program?
Fed government can’t
force states to
conduct background
checks for gun
purchases

32. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Montejo v Louisiana 6th Can police use
incriminatory
evidence (Montejo’s
letter) against
someone if produced
after being read his
rights but before
meeting lawyer?
Defendant may waive
his right to counsel for
interrogations
Letter can be used as
evidence because he’d
been read his rights

33. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
US v Nixon 1st Is President’s
executive privilege
absolute?
President's not above
the law
Can’t withhold
evidence requested
due to executive
privilege

34. Case Amendment Issue Precedent
Dred Scott v Sandford 14th Can a slave be
considered a citizen &
become entitled to all
rights granted under
US Constitution?
Due process clause of
5th doesn’t apply to
freed slaves brought
into free territories