Street Law’s Greatest Hits: SCOTUS Case Summaries

Many teachers visit StreetLaw.org for our robust collection of teaching materials about the U.S. Supreme Court, so we’ve compiled and organized 23 of our most popular SCOTUS case summaries for your instructional enjoyment!

• First Amendment
• Second Amendment
• Fourth Amendment
• Fifth Amendment
• Eighth Amendment
• 14th Amendment
• Federalism
• Voting Rights
• The Guantanamo Bay Cases

If you’re looking for ways to use case summaries effectively in the classroom, see our Elements of a Case Study document.

You can find the entire collection of Street Law’s SCOTUS case summaries in our Free Resource Library. Teaching materials on historical cases are at LandmarkCases.

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First Amendment

• Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014): May a town board open its meetings with a sectarian prayer?
• Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association (2011): Does the First Amendment prohibit a state from regulating the sale of violent video games to minors?
• Snyder v Phelps (2011): (Westboro Baptist Church Case) Can individuals/organizations be held liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress when commenting on matters of public concern?
• Morse v. Frederick (2007): (Bong Hits for Jesus Case) Does the First Amendment allow public schools to prohibit students from displaying pro-drug messages during a school-supervised event?

Second Amendment

• D.C. v. Heller (2008): Do D.C. provisions violate the Second Amendment rights of private citizens who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use?

Fourth Amendment

• Riley v. California (2014): Does a warrantless search of a suspect’s cell phone incident to an arrest of the suspect violate the Fourth Amendment?
• Georgia v. Randolph (2006): Does a wife’s consent to a search of the home outweigh the refusal of a search by the husband who is present at the time of the search?
• Kyllo v. U.S. (2001): Is the warrantless use of a thermal imaging device to detect heat emissions from an individual’s home  a reasonable search?

Fifth Amendment

• Kelo v. New London (2005): Does the term “public use” permit a local government to take the private property of one party and lease it to another?
• Yarborough v. Alvarado (2004): When deciding whether a suspect is “in custody” must an officer consider the suspect’s age and previous history with law enforcement?

Eighth Amendment

• Miller v. Alabama (2012): Does a sentence of life without parole for a 14-year-old convicted of murder violate the Eighth Amendment?
• Roper v. Simmons (2005): Does the Eighth Amendment prohibit the execution of juveniles who commit capital crimes prior to turning 18 years of age?

14th Amendment

• Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016) Do Texas’s new abortion restrictions violate the Constitution?
• Obergefell v. Hodges and consolidated cases (2015): Does the 14th Amendment require a state to license same-sex marriages? Does the 14th Amendment require a state to recognize a same-sex marriage that was lawfully licensed out-of-state?
• Parents Involved v. Seattle (2007): Does the Equal Protection Clause forbid school districts from using a race-conscious student assignment plan to promote racial integration?

Voting Rights

• Shelby County v. Holder (2013): (Voting Rights Act Case) Did Congress’s decision in 2006 to reauthorize Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act exceeded its authority to regulate voting?
• Crawford v. Marion Co. Board of Elections (2008): Does Indiana’s statute requiring voters to present a government-issued photo ID severely burden citizens’ right to vote?

Federalism

• Arizona v. U.S. (2012): Does federal law preempt Arizona’s immigration law?
• Gonzales v. Raich (2005): Do federal drug laws exceed the Commerce Clause when applied to intrastate possession of medical marijuana, authorized by state law?
• National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012): (Obamacare Case) Does the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act exceed the constitutional power of the federal government to regulate commerce?

The Guantanamo Bay Cases

• Rumsfeld v. Padilla (2004): Do the president’s powers enable him to seize and detain a U.S. citizen based on the president’s resolve that he is an “enemy combatant?”
• Rasul v. Bush (2004): Do U.S. courts have jurisdiction to consider legal appeals filed on behalf of foreign citizens held at Guantanamo?
• Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004): Can a U.S. citizen captured in Afghanistan, who the President claims was an “enemy combatant,” be detained indefinitely?