| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Barron v. Baltimore (1833) | Supreme Court decision holding that the Bill of Rights restrained only the national government, no the states and cities |
| Gitlow v. New York (1925) | Supreme Court decision holding that the freedoms of press and speech are "fundamental personal rights and liberties protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from the impairment by the states" as well as by the federal government |
| Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) | Supreme Court decision that established that aid to church-related schools must 1) have a secular legislative purpose; 2) have a primary effect that neither advances nor inhibits religion; and 3) not foster excessive government entanglement with religion |
| Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002) | Supreme Court decision that upheld a state providing families with vouchers that could be used to pay for tuition at religious schools |
| Engel v. Vitale (1962) | Supreme Court decision holding that state officials violated the First Amendment when they wrote a prayer to be recited by New York's schoolchildren |
| School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp (1963) | Supreme Court decision holding that a Pennsylvania law requiring Bible reading in schools violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment |
| Near v. Minnesota (1931) | Supreme Court decision holding that the First Amendment protects newspapers from prior restraint |
| Schenck v. United States (1919) | Supreme Court decision upholding the conviction of a socialist who had urged young men to resist the draft during World War I. Justice Holmes declared that government can limit speech if the speech if the speech provokes a "clear and present danger" of substantive evils |
| Zurcher v. Stanford Daily (1978) | Supreme Court decision holding that a proper search warrant could be applied to a newspaper as well as to anyone else without necessarily violating the First Amendment rights to freedom of the press |
| Roth v. United States (1957) | Supreme Court decision ruling that "obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press" |
| Miller v. California (1973) | Supreme Court decision that avoided defining obscenity by holding that community standards be used to determine whether material is obscene in terms of appealing to a "prurient interest" and being "patently offensive" and lacking in value |
| New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) | Supreme Court decision that established the guidelines for determining whether public officials and public figures could win damage suits for libel. To do so, individuals must prove that the defamatory statements were made with "actual malice" and reckless disregard for the truth |
| Texas v. Johnson (1989) | Supreme Court decision that struck down a law banning the burning of the American flag on the grounds that such action was symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment |
| Miami Herald Publishing Company v. Tornillo (1974) | Supreme Court decision that held that a states could not force a newspaper to print replies from candidates it had criticized, illustrating the limited power of government to restrict the print media |
| Red Lion Broadcasting Company v. Federal Communications Commission (1969) | Supreme Court decision that upheld restrictions on radio and television broadcasting. These restrictions on the broadcast media are much tighter than those on the print media because there are only a limited number of broadcasting frequencies available |
| NAACP v. Alabama (1958) | Supreme Court decision that protected the right to assemble peaceably in this case when it decided the NAACP did not have to reveal its membership list and thus subjects its members to harassment |
| Mapp v. Ohio (1961) | Supreme Court decision ruling that the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures must be extended to the states as well as to the federal government |
| Miranda v. Arizona (1966) | Supreme Court decision that sets the guidelines for police questioning of accused persons to protect them against self-incrimination and to protect their right to counsel |
| Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) | Supreme Court decision holding that anyone accused of a felony where imprisonment may be imposed, however poor he or she might be, has a right to a lawyer |
| Gregg v. Georgia (1976) | Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, stating that "It is an extreme sanction, suitable to the most extreme of crimes." The court did not, therefore, believe that the death sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment |
| McCleskey v. Kemp (1987) | Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty against charges that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment because minority defendants were more likely to receive the death penalty than were White defendants |
| Roe v. Wade (1973) | Supreme Court decision holding that a state band on all abortions was unconstitutional. The decision forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother's health in the second trimester, and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester |
| Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) | Supreme Court decision that loosened its standard for evaluating restrictions on abortion from one of "strict scrutiny" of any restraints on a "fundamental right" to one of "undue burden" that permits considerably more regulation |
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