Supreme Court Cases

The opinion of the Supreme Court in the case of United States v. Gettysburg Electric R. Co. was issued in 1896. The really important question ... is whether the use ... is of that kind of public use for which the government of the United States is authorized to condemn land. ... When the legislature has declared the use or purpose to be a public one, its judgment will be respected by the courts. ...

• Water restriction

• Eminent domain

• Mineral extraction

• Pollution regulation

The excerpt is from a dissenting opinion on the Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. If a State can prescribe, as a rule of civil conduct, that whites and blacks shall not travel as passengers in the same railroad coach, why may it not so regulate the use of the streets of its cities and towns as to compel white citizens to keep on one side of a street and black citizens to keep on the other? ... Further, if this statute of Louisiana is consistent with the personal liberty of citizens, why may not the State require the separation in railroad coaches of native and naturalized citizens of the United States, or of Protestants and Roman Catholics?

• Segregation is undesirable in a democratic society.

• Implementation of this ruling would take many years.

• Decisions on segregation are best decided by state governments.

• Religious differences are more of a concern than racial differences.

In 1919 Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes summarized the opinion of the Supreme Court in Schenck v. United States. The question in every case is whether the words used are used . . . to create a clear and present danger that . . . will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent. . . . When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in time of peace . . . will not be endured so long as men fight, and . . . no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right. How did this ruling alter behavior within United States society?

• Public debates concerning issues of national security were no longer tolerated.

• Critical comments regarding the governing party were no longer tolerated.

• Legal scholars were targets of investigations during national crises.

• Civil liberties were subject to interpretation during national crises.

During the Civil Rights Movement, activists used numerous strategies to end discrimination against African Americans. Which form of discrimination was resolved in part by a new amendment to the United States Constitution in the 1960s?

• Disenfranchisement

• Segregated schools

• Separate public accommodations

• Limited employment opportunities

How does the Brown v. Board of Education decision demonstrate that the Constitution is a living document?

• The case overturned a previous Supreme Court ruling.

• The case contributed to expanded media coverage of current events.

• The case declared that a legislature could reverse its previous policies.

• The case allowed the Supreme Court to overturn an unfair conviction.

In 1896, the Supreme Court upheld this Louisiana law. All railway companies carrying passengers in their coaches in this State shall provide equal but separate accommodations. . . . No person or persons, shall be admitted to occupy seats in coaches other than the ones assigned to them on account of the race they belong to. What was a consequence of this ruling?

• Exceptions were made based on economic status.

• Facilities provided for African Americans were inferior.

• Public funds were withheld from companies for refusing to comply.

• Local governments passed laws protecting African American equality.