Engel vs. Vitale, 1962 – ruled that it was unconstitutional for states to impose a compulsory school prayer and encourage its recitation in public schools.
Lawrence vs. Texas, 2003 struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by extension, invalidated sodomy laws in 13 other states. This made the same-sex sexual activity legal in every U.S. state and territory.
Gratz vs. Bollinger, 2003 – deemed the use of points being given based on being an underrepresented minority as part of the University of Michigan’s undergraduate admissions policy completely unconstitutional.
Grutter vs. Bollinger, 2003 –ruled that the University of Michigan Law School had a race conscious admissions process that may favour underrepresented minority groups, deeming it unconstitutional that admissions were not purely meritocratic
US vs. Windsor, 2013 deemed that restricting U.S. federal interpretation of "marriage" and "spouse" to only apply to heterosexual unions under Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), is unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment
Shelby County vs. Holder, 2013 - These states are free to make changes to election law or district maps without approval from the Justice Department; Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia in their entirety; and parts of California, Florida, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, and South Dakota had to previously " ask for preclearance for electoral law changes.
Schuette vs. Coalition to defend Affirmative Action, 2014 – questioned whether or not a state violates the 14th Amendment by enforcing a ban on race/sex based discrimination on public university admissions
Fisher vs. University of Texas, 2013 – Fisher argued that the use of race was unconstitutional and violated the 14th Amendment through the use of Affirmative action. The Supreme Court voided the lower court’s ruling that the same level of scrutiny, as articulated in Grutter, and have continued to pursue Affirmative action programmes.
Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby, 2014 – that closely held companies could opt out of certain provisions in the Affordable Care Act as it coincided with religious beliefs. This allowed certain businesses to refrain from paying and offering contraception/fertility treatments for religious reasons.
Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, 2010 – the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a non profit corporation. The principles articulated by the Supreme Court have been extended for profit corporations, labour unions and other associations
Speechnow.org vs. Federal Election, 2010 – A non-profit organisation that:
* Sought to accept contributions of over $5000 from individual contributors, for the sole purpose of running independent expenditures
* To not register as a political committee or be subject to PAC reporting requirements
Speechnow.org argued that it would not make any candidate contributions and would only make independent expenditures. It was a violation of both its/donors free speech rights
0 comments:
Post a Comment