Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668; 104 S. Ct. 1355; 79 L. Ed. 2d 604 (1984) Facts—Residents of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and members of the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the city’s display of a nativity scene, or crèche, as…
Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 U.S. 503; 89 S. Ct. 733; 21 L. Ed. 2d 731 (1969) Facts—Three students, two in high school and one in junior high, were suspended from school after they wore black armbands to class in…
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624; 63 S. Ct. 1178, 87 L. Ed. 1628 (1943) Facts—Following the decision of the Supreme Court in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 (1940), permitting school boards…
Cox v. New Hampshire, 312 U.S. 569; 61 S. Ct. 762; 85 L. Ed. 1049 (1941) Facts—Cox, a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, was convicted of violating a city ordinance of the city of Manchester, New Hampshire, that forbade any…
Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444; 89 S. Ct. 1827; 23 L. Ed. 2d 430 (1969) Facts—Brandenburg, a Ku Klux Klan leader, was convicted under Ohio’s criminal syndicalism statute for remarks that he had been taped making at a Klan…
Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589; 87 S. Ct. 675; 17 L. Ed. 2d 629 (1967) Facts—Faculty members of the State University of New York at Buffalo refused to sign a required certificate that they were not, and…
Dennis v. United States, 341 U.S. 494; 71 S. Ct. 857; 95 L. Ed. 1137 (1951) Facts—Eleven leaders of the Communist Party were convicted of violating the 1940 Smith Act. The defendants were convicted of conspiring to organize the Communist…
American Communications Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382; 70 S. Ct. 674; 94 L. Ed. 925 (1950) Facts—Section 9 (h) of the Taft-Hartley Act, the Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, provides that the National Labor Relations Board shall not investigate…
Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47; 39 S. Ct. 247; 63 L. Ed. 470 (1919) Facts—Schenck, the general secretary of the Socialist Party, sent out about 15,000 leaflets to men who had been called to military service, urging them…
Ashcroft v. American Civil Liberties Union, 542 U.S. 656; 124 S. Ct. 2783; 159 L. Ed. 2d 690 (2004) Facts—The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) required commercial Internet postings of sexual material to limit access to minors by requiring use…