| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Bakke v UC Regents (1978) | The Court ruled that the affirmative action plan, which set up a special program with a quota for the under-represented, for admissions at UC Davis was unconstitutional. The Court declared that affirmative action programs are not necessarily unconstitutional in order to achieve a diversified student body, but the problem with the program was that it created a category of admissions from which whites were excluded solely because of their race. |
| Hopwood v Texas (1996) | This decision did not make it to the supreme court. The Court of Appeals had set aside the U of Texas law school's affirmative action plan for admissions. Since the law school modified its plan, the Supreme Court did not review it. (This case reinforced Bakke.) |
| Shaw v Reno | The Court ruled that although it was a legitimate goal for state legislatures to take race into account when they draw electoral districts in order ot increase the voting strength of minorities, they may not make race the sole reason for drawing district lines. |
| Miranda v Arizona (1966) | The Court ruled that suspects in police custody have certain rights and that they must be informed of those rights (e.g. right to remain silent, right to attorney). |
| Mapp v Ohio (1961) | A key state incorporation case, this established the exclusionary rule for states. The Court ruled that evidence obtained without a search warrant was excluded from trial in state courts. Other evidence found at the crime scene is not admissible. |
| Terry v Ohio (1968) | The Court ruled that searches of criminal suspects are constitutional and police may search suspects for safety purposes. |
| United States v Leon (1984) | In this decision, the Court created a "good faith" exception to the exclusionary rule, allowing the introduction of illegally obtained evidence where police can prove that the evidence was obtained without violating the core principles of the ruling that established the exclusionary rule. |
| Powell v Alabama (1932) | The Court established that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees defendants in death penalty cases right to an attorney. (This essentially incorporated the Sixth Amendment -- the Court ruled that state governments must provide counsel too) |
| Gideon v Wainwright (1963) | The Court ruled that in state trials, those who cannot afford an attorney will have one provided by the state. |
| Skinner v Oklahoma | The Court ruled that an Oklahoma law requiring the sterilization of persons convicted of three or more felonies involving moral turpitude was a violation of fundamental rights (e.g. marriage and procreation). |
| Rostker v Goldberg (1981) | Congress can draft men without drafting women without violating the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. |
| Craig v Boren (1976) | Gender discrimination can only be justified if it serves "important governmental objectives" and be "substantially related to those objectives". |
| Swann v Charlotte-Mecklenburg | The Court upheld the decision of a district judge ruling that a plan, which assigned pupils to the nearest neighborhood school without regard to race, was inadequate and that the school district had to bus some students to more distant schools to achieve a greater degree of integration. It set the guidelines for all subsequent cases involving school segregation. |
| Washington v Davis (1976) | The Court ruled that even if a law has a disparate impact on persons of a different race or sex, it is not necessarily unconstitutional. |
| Korematsu v United States (1944) | Sending Japanese Americans to relocation centers during World War II was based on an acceptable military justification. (The Court used the strict scrutiny test, and the government showed compelling state interest.) |
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