Professor Peter Woll





Brandeis University

Professor Peter Woll

Politics 115b

Cases, Notes, and Readings Alternate Site

Full Text of Major Supreme Court Cases

Original Intent, Textual Interpretation, and Judicial Review

Marbury v. Madison (1803): Background

Marbury v. Madison (1802): Text

Judicial Review and the 13th and 14th amendments

Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)

Civil Rights Acts 1866-1875

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

Palko v. Connecticut (1937)

Jones v. Mayer Co, 392 U.S. 409 (1968)

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Freedom of Religion: Free Exercise of Religion

Reynolds v. United States (1878)

Cantwell V. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1941)

Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 (1940)

West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette , 319 U.S. 624

Braunfeld V. Brown, 366 U.S. 599 (1961)

Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963)

Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972)

Employment Division, Department of Human Resources v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990)

Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (1993)

City of Boerne v. Flores (1997)

Freedom of Religion: The Establishment Clause

Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947)

Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38 (1985)

Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971)

County ofAllegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union, 492 U.S. 573 (1989)

Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board v. Pinette, 515 U.S. 753 (1995)

Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 515 U.S. 819 (1995)

Lee v. Weisman, 505 U.S. 577 (1992)

Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet, 512 U.S. 687 (1994)

Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574 (1983)

Freedom of Speech

Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919)

Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616 (1919)

Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652, (1925)

Feiner v. New York, 340 U.S. 315 (1951)

Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357 (1927)

Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494 (1951)

Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969)

Freedom of the Press

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964)

Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc ., 418 U.S. 323 (1974)

Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988)

Obscenity and Indecent Speech

Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973)

Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49 (1973)

City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc., 475 U.S. 41 (1986)

Fighting Words, Captive Audiences, and Hate Speech

Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942)

Terminiello v. Chicago, 337 U.S. 1 (1949)

Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971)

Beauharnais v. Illinois, 343 U.S. 250 (1952)

Wisconsin v. Mitchell, 508 U.S. 476 (1993)

R.A.V. v. St. Paul, 505 U.S. 377 (1992)

Dambrot v. Central Michigan University,( 6th Cir., 1995)

Government Regulation of the Electronic Media

Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367 (1969)

Offensive Speech in the Electronic Media

Federal Communications Commn v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978)


Regulation of Indecent Speech in the Electronic Media

Sable Communications, Inc. v. FCC, 492 U.S. 115 (1989)

Reno v. ACLU (1997)

Reaction to Reno v. ACLU

Commercial Speech

Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, 425 U.S. 748 (1976)

Florida Bar v. Went For It, Inc., 515 U.S. 618 (1995)

Posadas De Puerto Rico Associates v. Tourism Company of Puerto Rico, 478 U.S. 328 (1986)

Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island, 517 U.S. 484 (1996)

Campaign Expenditures


Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976)

First National Bank v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765 (1978)

Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, 494 U.S. 652 (1990)

Speech with a Government Nexus

United States v. Grace, 461 U.S. 171 (1983)

Ward v. Rock Against Racism, 491 U.S. 781 (1989)

Perry Educ. Assn v. Perry Local Educators Assn., 460 U.S. 37 (1983)

Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, 307 U.S. 496 (1939)

International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Inc. v. Lee, 505 U.S. 672 (1992)

Speech by Public Employees and Recipients of
Government Funds

Rust v. Sullivan, 500 U.S. 173 (1991)

Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 515 U.S. 819 (1995)

Speech Within Government Institutions

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988)

Process-Based Protections for Speech

Prior Restraints and Permit Systems

Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697 (1931)

Near v. Minnesota and Related Cases

Shuttlesworth v. City of Birmingham, 394 U.S. 147 (1969)

New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971)

Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc., 512 U.S. 753 (1994)

Due Process,Vagueness and the First Amendment

Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, 501 U.S. 1030 (1991)

Equal Protection, Overbreadth and the First Amendment

Board ofAirport Commissioners v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U.S. 569 (1987)

Freedom of Association

NAACP v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449 (1958)

NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415 (1963)

FTC v. Superior Court Trial Lawyers Ass'n, 493 U.S. 411 (1990)

Abood v. Detroit Bd. of Ed., 431 U.S. 209 (1977)


Overview of Freedom of Association


NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co . 458 U.S. 886 (1982)

Board of Directors of Rotary International v. Rotary Club of Duarte 481 U.S. 537 (1987)