Civil Liberties

Civil Liberties

1. Wisconsin v Yoder

   • Key Details: Three Amish parents refused to send their children to school after the eighth grade, arguing that high school attendance was contrary to their beliefs. They appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
   • Significance: The Court ruled that an individual person's interests in the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment are more important than the State's interests in compelling school attendance beyond the eighth grade. Thus, parents could opt their children out of school after the eighth grade for religious purposes.

2. Schenck v United States

   • Key Details: During World War I, two socialists distributed pamphlets urging the public to peaceably disobey the draft. They were charged with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and appealed on the basis that this Act violated the First Amendment.
   • Significance: The Court ruled that the Espionage Act did not violate the First Amendment. They concluded that the First Amendment does not protect speech that creates a clear and present danger of a significant evil, akin to shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre.

3. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

   • Key Details: A group of high school students decided to wear black armbands to school as a public show of their support for a truce in the Vietnam war. The school made a rule not allowing students to wear black armbands and sent two of the students home. They sued the school for violating their right to expression.
   • Significance: The Court held that students do not lose their First Amendment rights when they enter school property. In order for the school to suppress their freedom of speech, the conduct must substantially interfere with the operation of the school. Thus, the Court ruled that pure speech is protected under the First Amendment.

4. Gideon v. Wainright

   • Significance: The Court ruled that the right to assistance of council under the Sixth Amendment applies to criminal defendants in state court by way of the Fourteenth Amendment. This meant that any accused have the right to assistance of counsel in all criminal prosecutions, and the court must provide counsel for defendants if they themselves cannot find it.
   • Key Details: A convicted felon in Florida asked the court to appoint a lawyer for him. However, Florida state law held that an attorney can only be appointed to defendants in capital cases, so the trial court did not appoint him one. The felon petitioned the supreme court, claiming that the decision of the trial court violated his constitutional right to be represented by council.

5. Roe v. Wade

   • Key Details: Roe, a resident of Texas, sought to terminate her pregnancy via abortion. Existing Texas law prohibited abortion except to save the mother's life.
   • Significance: The Court ruled that a woman has the right to an abortion under the right to privacy that is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. Because of this case, a woman has the total right to commit an abortion during the first trimester.

6. McDonald v. Chicago

   • Significance: The Court ruled that the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms applies to the states under the Fourteenth Amendment. Thus, the right of the people to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed even by the states.
   • Key Details: Several suits were filed against Chicago and Oak Park, two cities in Illinois, on the basis that their gun bans were unconstitutional. The plaintiffs argued that the Second Amendment should also apply to the states.