Judicial Cases

In this assignment, you will research six court cases, three of which will focus on civil rights, the other three on civil liberties. To
find court cases to help you, follow this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_landmark_court_decisions_in_the_United_States
. This link provides you with a list of landmark court cases in the United States. Only research court cases found under topics “1.
Individual Rights”, and “4. First Amendment Rights”. If it is an individual right, it is a civil right. If it is a first amendment
right, it is a civil liberty. Use these to find court cases. Be sure the cases are only from the 1950’s to now as older cases may
have been overturned. This list is only to help you find court cases, use sites like https://www.uscourts.gov/ or
https://www.oyez.org/ to get a better understanding of the cases, like what they were about, and what the majority and dissenting
opinions were. If a case has no dissenting opinion, leave the box blank. When identifying what the court case is about, add an
image that symbolizes the case or the civil right/liberty being fought over.
Civil Rights
Name of the Court Case Civil Right being fought over, Summary of the Majority Summary of the Why was this case
plus an image that might Opinion Dissenting Opinion important?
symbolize this
This court case was about the The majority opinion for this There was no dissenting This case helped protect all
Equal Protections Clause of the case was unanimous. The opinion since the majority people and reestablish the
Fourteenth amendment. It directly opinion was written by Chief vote was unanimous. Fourteenth Amendment’s
Brown v. Board of challenged school segregation Justice Earl Warren. The Equal Protection clause.
Education, 1954 because segregated schools were opinion said that separate Because of the majority
not equal facilities, like schools, are not vote, this case stands as
equal because it made African- law that cannot be
Americans feel inferior and as challenged or ignored. Not
such made them unequal. The only did the case end
reason why this was school segregation, it also
unanimous was because the provided precedent for
Chief Justice wanted to make other cases that relied on
sure the court’s decision could the Equal Protection
not be challenged by anyone Clause.
and needed a 9-0 vote to do
that.

This court case was about the Due Male only and female only The one dissenting opinion This case set a standard for
Process Clause of the Fourteenth schools had to prove they argued that this case was how male only and women
 Amendment. Specifically, that
United States v. Virginia, women applying to military
1996 schools should have the same kind
of access to benefits that male
recruits and applicants do.
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Private corporations, like stores,
Stores, Inc., 2014 have the right to not offer their
female employees contraception
because it violates the companies
religious freedoms and infringes
on their beliefs
offered similar opportunities
and were actively trying to
keep the school diverse. The
majority opinion also argued
that by creating two different
schools for both groups, they
shortchange the ability of one
of the schools to network and
provide equal opportunity, in
this case the female’s schools.
Corporations are made up of
individuals who have beliefs. If
many have a shared religious
belief, they should not be
forced to pay, or subsidize,
something they do not agree
with or infringes on their
liberties.
judged too harshly and that
broke how previous cases
like this were done. Very
little else was added, but
the judge did say that strict
standards were no
appropriate for this case.
The dissenting opinion
talked about how the court
case is not based on
precedent and offers too
many protections to for-
profit corporations.
only places should judge
themselves in offering
opportunity, and added
how strict standards should
be applied to gender based
equal protections.
This case helped expand
civil rights to corporations
and reaffirmed attempts to

Name of the Court Case
Texas v. Johnson, 1989
Civil Liberty being fought
over
It is legal to burn the
American flag as it is
“symbolic speech” which is
part of the First
Amendment’s Freedom of
Speech
Civil Liberties
Summary of Majority
Opinion
It is legal to burn an
American flag out of protests
as the flag symbolizes a
certain set of ideas. If the
person burning the flag
believes those ideas are not
being upheld, the protestors
burning the flag is symbolic.
Even if people get mad about
Summary of Dissenting
Opinion
While people do have the
right for symbolic speech,
national symbols should be
exempt from it. Since the
American flag is a national
symbol, it should be
protected and should
outweigh “symbolic speech”
Why was this case
important?
It made sure to point up that
no matter the situation or
outcome, speech would be
protected. Flag burning is a
contentious subject, but this
case offers protection to
those who use symbols to
protest what those symbols
represent.

This case was being fought
Engel v. Vitale, 1962 over whether schools can
start the day with a prayer,
which would a violation of
the First Amendment’s
Freedom of Religion and
Establishment Clause
The issue here was the
Boy Scouts of America v. Freedom of Association of a
Dale, 2000 private organization to
exclude a person who
contradicts the organization’s
beliefs
this, public outrage is not
enough to suppress people’s
freedom of speech
Schools cannot force
students to pray, even if they
give the students a chance to
leave the classroom. Even if
students want to leave to not
pray, this still violates the
Establishment clause as
students are impressionable
and can be forced to follow
Christian practices
The Boy Scouts of America
are allowed to exclude a
member since the
organization has expressed
its beliefs in regard to
homosexuality. Since having
a gay man in a leadership
role would contradict its
beliefs, it has the right to
exclude it using the freedom
of association.
The lone judge to dissent
argued that the
Establishment Clause only
protects from the
government creating a state
religion. They also argued
that this case would be
government overreach and
would be a form of policing.
The dissenting opinion
argued that this case was
harmful and brought further
harm for gay people. The
argument was also made that
the tenets of the BSA made
no mention of
homosexuality, and as such
cannot be used as
justification of how they
associate with others
This case changed how
schools apply religious rules
and what public institutions
can do in terms of religious
affiliation. This case also
serves as a form of precedent
for prayer-based decisions in
future court cases.
This case increased the scope
of the freedom of
association, but it did
interfere with civil rights
protections. This a case
where some civil liberty
issues were advanced, but at
the cost of some civil right
protections.