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Judicial precedents
Judicial precedents
The role the Supreme Court plays in policymaking
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Dartmouth College v Woodward is one the biggest, if not the biggest, landmark decisions made by the Supreme Court. The case under dispute was if the state of New Hampshire could alter Dartmouth’s charter, granted by King George III, by reinstating the old President of Dartmouth college. The Supreme court ruled in favor of Dartmouth, therefore validating its contract. While most people tend to think this decision gave the Federal Government more power of the states, it really affected our free market economy the most. The ruling set a precedent that business were protected from government regulation, by stating that their corporate charters were secured by the Constitution.
March 30, 1981 was a peaceful day. President Ronald Reagan was walking outside enjoying the fresh air when suddenly shots were fired. Six shots were fired in total, but only one shot hit Reagan due to a bullet that ricocheted. Luckily, Reagan was hit in the abdomen; therefore, he survived. The “mastermind” behind the attempted assassination was a man named John Hinckley. Hinckley believed by going through with this assassination it would be a romantic scenario for himself to confess his undying love for the actress Jodie Foster. Before long it was time for the Hinckley trial and after hearing his side of the story, the jury came to the conclusion that he was crazy. Hinckley was later found not guilty by reason of insanity and admitted to
FACTS: Respondent, Davis, a licensed LPN for over ten years who also lives with hearing loss applied for admissions to Southeastern Community College. The Petitioner, requested Davis see an audiologist before accepting her to the RN program. The audiologist concluded that Davis required lip-read in order to fully understand audible communication. The school subsequently denied Davis entry, assuming her hearing loss would affect her ability to effective care for patients safely.
The third legal issue I chose was Mills vs The Board of Education of The District of Columbia. In 1972 this case was brought to the courts representing seven children, as well as nearly 18,000 other students in the District of Columbia area. These children were classified as having behavioral, intellectual, and emotional disabilities, as well as hyperactivity. All of these children were denied an educational services and public education by being excluded, suspended, expelled, reassigned, and transferred. They were denied based solely on their disability, and without due process. This case was the other of the two that laid the ground work for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to be passed.
There have been several different Supreme Court cases over the years that have been influential to most everybody who is aware of them. For example, the case of Roe vs. Wade was and still is immensely influential and is the cause of pro-life/pro-choice debates. Another important case was Marbury vs. Madison, which was the first Supreme Court case to ever declare that a law passed by Congress was unconstitutional. Even though those two cases were a couple of the most important and influential in American history nothing compares to the influence that the case of Gideon vs. Wainwright has provided, in my opinion. This case was tremendously important to the way that law enforcement is to be carried out in that it forced detectives and FBI’s and the like to “do their homework” before declaring someone guilty of a crime. Although this case was very influential on the way police forces carry out their duties, I think the case was mostly important in that it forced all courts in the U.S. to have a greater recognition of the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution and the story of the victim involved in this case.
There have been many, many court cases throughout the history of the United States. One important case that I believe to be important is the court case of Clinton v. New York. This case involves more than just President Bill Clinton, the City of New York; it involved Snake River Farmers’ as well. This case mostly resolves around the president’s power of the line item veto. In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed the Line Item Veto Act into law. This would allow the president to get rid of a part of a bill and not disapprove the entire bill. The first time that President Clinton used this power he used it to refine the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, he got rid of a part of the bill that waived the Federal Governments statutory right to get back or receive $2.6 billion in taxes that were levied by the City of New York. President Clinton also line item vetoed a section of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 this wouldn’t allow certain food processors and refiners to sell their stock to farmers to defer the recognition of capital gains. This is when the Snake River Farmers’ and City of New York went after Clinton for doing so this is where the case of Clinton v. The City of New York originated from. In this case there were constitutional issues that were raised, major arguments presented, and the final ruling from the Supreme Court.
The case came to the Supreme Court as the infamous Federal versus State battle for power. Once again the question plagued Marshall whether to support Federalism, or keep States’ rights alive.
Abington v. Schempp was an important case regarding the establishment of religion in American schools. Until the late twentieth century, most children were sent to schools which had some sort of religious instruction in their day. The schools taught the morals, values, and beliefs of Christianity in addition to their everyday curriculum. However, as some people began to drift away from Christianity, parents believed this was not fair to the kids and justifiable by the government. They thought public schools should not be affiliated with religion to ensure the freedom of all of the families who send students there. Such is the situation with the 1963 Supreme Court case Abington v. Schempp.
The Dred Scott Case had a huge impact on the United States as it is today. The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments have called it the worst Supreme Court decision ever rendered and was later overturned. The Dred Scott Decision was a key case regarding the issue of slavery; the case started as a slave seeking his rightful freedom and mushroomed into a whole lot more. 65
Examples of this include the Supreme Court’s ruling on National League of Cities v Usery in 1976, where it was disputed whether the national government had the authority to set a minimum wage standard for the states to follow, in this particular case’s ruling, the Supreme Court decided no, the national government did not have the right to do so. Nine years later the Supreme overturned this previous ruling in the case of Garcia v San Antonio Metro Transit
"Pickering v. Board of Education - 391 U.S. 563 (1968)." Justia US Supreme Court Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.
The Supreme Court's May 17, 1954, ruling in Brown v Board of Education remains a landmark legal decision. This decision is huge not only because it changed the history of America forever but also because it was a huge step for blacks in the United States. This decision would eventually lead to the full freedom of blacks in America. Brown v Board of Education is the "Big Bang" of all American history in the 20th century.
The West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette Case in March 11, 1943 created much controversy throughout the United States. This case questioned whether a flag salute law for school children violated the First, the right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. In 1941 the West Virginia State Board of Education made it a mandatory action for all students to salute the American flag at the beginning of each school day and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. If students did not cooperate it would lead to harsh punishment (findlaw).
individuals accused of crimes. Some of these court cases are Brown v. Board of education, which allowed black students equal educational opportunities as white students. And also the Miranda v. Arizona case, which established that criminal defendants had a right to know their rights under the constitution prior to questioning by law enforcement.
Several cases have been fought for the right to choose. Many of these have been hard cases with very personal feelings, but the perseverance showed through and gives us the rights we have today. Here are some important cases: 1965 - Griswold v. Connecticut - upheld the right to privacy and ended the ban on birth control. Eight years later, the Supreme Court ruled the right to privacy included abortions. Roe v. Wade was based upon this case. 1973 - Roe v. Wade: - The state of Texas had outlawed abortions. The Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional, but refused to order an injunction against the state. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court voted the right to privacy included abortions.
In today 's world, there are a lot of hot topics in the world of politics and social standings. Some that have been issues for decades. A great example is gun control that can be traced back to the 1939 case of "US vs Miller" that dealt with the where the line was drawn for the 2nd amendment. Some, however, are debates that have sparked up more recently like cell phone privacy. Regardless, many of these cases that are talked about so much today can be traced back to court cases dating back to 1857. All of them hold something in common, the fact that they attempt to most perfectly define the writing of the constitution. All Supreme Court decisions try their best to balance the two sides of a cases: Individual rights and the common good of everyone.