Major Court Cases American Government CLEP Exam with Complete Solutions

Marbury v. Madison (1803) - ANSWER-Established Judicial Review; "midnight judges"; John Marshall; power of the Supreme Court. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) - ANSWER-Established national supremacy; established implied powers; use of elastic clause; state unable to tax fed. Institution; John Marshall; "the power to tax the power to destroy." Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) - ANSWER-Established a broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause; determined Congress' power encompassed virtually every form of commercial activity. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) - ANSWER-Established "separate but equal." Gave Supreme Court approval of Jim Crow laws. Weeks v. U.S. (1914) - ANSWER-Established the "Exclusionary Rule" at the federal level; illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court. Schenck v. U.S. (1919) - ANSWER-Clear and present danger test; shouting "fire" in a crowded theater; limits on speech, especially in wartime. Gitlow v. New York (1925) - ANSWER-Established precedent of federalizing Bill of Rights (applying them to the states); states cannot deny freedom of speech, protected through due process clause of Amendment 14. Near v. Minnesota (1931) - ANSWER-Held that the 1st Amendment protects newspaper from prior restraint. Palko v. Connecticut (1937) - ANSWER-Provided test for determining which parts of the Bill of Rights should be federalized, those which are implicitly or explicitly necessary for liberty to exist. Korematsu v. U.S. (1944) - ANSWER-Upheld as constitutional the internment of Americans with Japanese descent during WWII. Brown v. Board, 1st (1954) - ANSWER-School segregation unconstitutional; segregation psychologically damaging to blacks; overturned "separate but equal"; use of 14th Amendment. Brown v. Board, 2nd (1955) - ANSWER-Ordered schools to desegregate "with all due and deliberate speed." Roth v. United States (1957) - ANSWER-Established that "obscenity is not within the area of constitutionally protected speech or press." Mapp v. Ohio (1961) - ANSWER-Established the "Exclusionary Rule" at the state level; illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court. Engel v. Vitale