-
Whitney v. California
A United States Supreme Court decision upholding the conviction of an individual who had engaged in speech that raised a threat to society. -
Near v. Minnesota
The Court ruled that a Minnesota law that targeted publishers of malicious or scandalous newspapers violated the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. -
Schneider v. New Jersey
United States Supreme Court decision that combined four similar appeals Schneider v. State of New Jersey, Town of Irvington, Young v. People of the State of California, Snyder v. City of Milwaukee, Nichols et al. v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, each of which presented the question whether regulations embodied in municipal ordinances abridged the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and of the press secured against state invasion by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. -
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette
This decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protected students from being forced to salute the American flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance in school. -
McCollum v. Board of Education
landmark case ruled upon by the United States Supreme Court in 1948, and related to the power of a state to use its tax-supported public school system in aid of religious instruction. The case was an early test of the separation of church and state with respect to education. -
Butler v. Michigan
A man convicted of selling "a book containing obscene, immoral, lewd, lascivious language, or descriptions, tending to incite minors to violent or depraved or immoral acts, manifestly tending to the corruption of the morals of youth" to a police officer appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the state of Michigan could not reduce the adult population of Michigan to reading only what is fit for children. -
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
United States Supreme Court case which established the actual malice standard which has to be met before press reports about public officials or public figures can be considered to be defamation and libel; and hence allowed free reporting of the civil rights campaigns in the southern United States. -
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
A decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined the constitutional rights of students in U.S. public schools. The Tinker test is still used by courts today to determine whether a school's disciplinary actions violate students' First Amendment rights. -
New York Times Company v. United States
In the "Pentagon Papers" case, the U.S. government attempted to enjoin the New York Times and the Washington Post from publishing classified documents concerning the Vietnam War -
Wooley v. Maynard
A Jehovah’s Witness objected to New Hampshire’s state motto—“Live Free or Die”—on his license plate. Because the saying went against his conscience, he did not believe the state had a right to force him to advertise something the state believes in, but he does not -
Mozert v. Hawkins County Board of Education
Parents and students brought this action challenging the mandatory use of certain textbooks on the ground that the texts promoted values offensive to their religious beliefs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected the plaintiffs' claim, finding that the Constitution does not require school curricula to be revised substantially in order to accommodate religious beliefs -
Texas v. Johnson
In this case the Supreme Court held that burning the United States flag was a protected form of symbolic political speech. -
Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell
Hustler magazine's parody of Jerry Falwell was deemed to be within the law, because the Court found that reasonable people would not have interpreted the parody to contain factual claims, leading to a reversal of the jury verdict in favor of Falwell, who had previously been awarded $200,000 in damages by a lower court. -
Sund v. City of Wichita Falls, Texas
City residents who were members of a church sought removal of two books, Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy's Roommate, because they disapproved of the books' depiction of homosexuality. -
Counts v. Cedarville School District
The school board of the Cedarville, Arkansas school district voted to restrict students' access to the Harry Potter books, on the grounds that the books promoted disobediance and disrespect for authority and dealt with witchcraft and the occult.
