Library: US Criminal Justice by Credo Reference: Notable Cases

Legal Cases

Brown v. Board of Education: Topic Page
A legal case in which on 17 May 1954 the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
Dred Scott decision: Topic Page
US Supreme Court decision of 1857 which denied ‘blacks’ (African Americans) US citizenship and made slavery legal in all US territories.
Dreyfus affair: Topic Page
The controversy that occurred with the treason conviction (1894) of Capt. Alfred Dreyfus (1859–1935), a French general staff officer.
Marbury v. Madison
From The Reader's Companion to American History
In Marbury v. Madison (1803) the Supreme Court announced for the first time the principle that a court may declare an act of Congress void if it is inconsistent with the Constitution.
McCulloch v. Maryland: Topic Page
Case decided in 1819 by the U.S. Supreme Court, dealing specifically with the constitutionality of a Congress-chartered corporation, and more generally with the dispersion of power between state and federal governments.
Miranda v. Arizona: Topic Page
U.S. Supreme Court case (1966) in the area of due process of law (see Fourteenth Amendment). The decision reversed an Arizona court's conviction of Ernesto Miranda on kidnapping and rape charges.
US v. Nixon
From The Hutchinson unabridged encyclopedia with atlas and weather guide
US Supreme Court decision of 1974 dealing with the extent to which a US president may exercise executive privilege in a criminal investigation. During the Watergate investigations, President Nixon cited this privilege in refusing to produce certain tape recordings that had been subpoenaed by Special Prosecutor Jaworski.
Nuremberg trials: Topic Page
After World War II, the trials of the 24 chief Nazi war criminals November 1945-October 1946 by an international military tribunal consisting of four judges and four prosecutors: one of each from the USA, UK, USSR, and France.
Plessy v. Ferguson
From Encyclopedia of American Studies
When Homer Plessy boarded an intrastate Louisiana train on June 7, 1892, his purpose was to challenge Section 2, Act III, passed by the Louisiana state legislature on July 10, 1890, which prescribed “equal but separate accommodations for the white, and colored races” on its intrastate railroads.
Reno v. ACLU
From Dictionary of American government and politics
In Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, the Supreme Court struck down the Communications Decency Act (CDA) which had prohibited the transmission over the Internet of any 'patently offensive' material, including 'any … image or other communication which is obscene or indecent, knowing that the recipient is … under 18 years of age'. It argued that the Act lacked precision and thereby infringed rights under the First Amendment.
Roe v. Wade: Topic Page
Case decided in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Along with Doe v. Bolton, this decision legalized abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Sacco-Vanzetti Case
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
On Apr. 15, 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree, Mass., and his guard were shot and killed by two men who escaped with over $15,000.
Salem Witch Trials: Topic Page
Series of trials that took place near Salem, part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in 1692, in which more than 150 men and women were accused and 19 found guilty of practising witchcraft, then a crime punishable by death.
Scottsboro case: Topic Page
In 1931 nine black youths were indicted at Scottsboro, Ala., on charges of having raped two white women in a freight car passing through Alabama. In a series of trials the youths were found guilty and sentenced to death or to prison terms of 75 to 99 years.

Legal Policy

Articles of Confederation: Topic Page
First Federal constitution of the USA, drafted by the Continental Congress in 1777.
Civil Rights Act of 1964: Topic Page
US legislation that outlawed discrimination on the grounds of a person's colour, race, national origin, religion, or sex. Rights protected under the act include a person's freedom to seek employment. The act is considered the USA's strongest civil-rights legislation since Reconstruction.
Freedom of Information Act: Topic Page
(1966), law requiring that U.S. government agencies release their records to the public on request, unless the information sought falls into a category specifically exempted, such as national security, an individual's right to privacy, or internal agency management.
Kansas-Nebraska Act: Topic Page
Bill that became law on May 30, 1854, by which the U.S. Congress established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. By 1854 the organization of the vast Platte and Kansas river countries W of Iowa and Missouri was overdue.
Navigation Acts: Topic Page
A series of acts of Parliament, the first of which was passed in 1381, that attempted to restrict to English ships the right to carry goods to and from England and its colonies.
Prohibition: Topic Page
In US history, the period 1920-33 when the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was in force, and the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol was illegal.
Stamp Act: Topic Page
Revenue law passed by the British Parliament during the ministry of George Grenville.
Affirmative Action: Topic Page
In the United States, programs to overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific groups, such as minorities and women.
Equal Rights Amendment: Topic Page
Proposed amendment to the US Constitution to provide for the equality of sexes under the law, originally proposed in 1923 by Alice Paul, a leader of the women's suffrage movement.
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution: Topic Page
Addition to the U.S. Constitution, adopted 1868. The amendment comprises five sections. MORE
First Amendment to the United States Constitution: Topic Page
Amendment to the US Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion, of speech, of assembly, and of the press. Part of the Bill of Rights, it was ratified in 1791.
Jim Crow Laws: Topic Page
In U.S. history, statutes enacted by Southern states and municipalities, beginning in the 1880s, that legalized segregation between blacks and whites.
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution: Topic Page
The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
Title XI: Topic Page
Clause of the Educational Amendments of 1972 that reads: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
United States Bill of Rights: Topic Page
In the USA, the first ten amendments to the US Constitution, incorporated in 1791.
USA Patriot Act: Topic Page
[Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorists], 2001, U.S. federal law intended to give federal authorities increased abilities to combat international and domestic terrorism.

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