Brown vs. BOE

Brown vs. Board

1954

Plaintiff - Brown
Defendant - BOE
Major Issue - Brown claimed that Topeka's racial segregation violated the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause because the city's black and white schools were not equal to each other and never could be
Outcome - The decision held that racial segregation of children in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

Reynolds vs. Sims

1964

Plaintiff - Reynolds
Defendant - Sims
Major Issue - Alabama's apportionment scheme violated the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause
Outcome - the Court ruled that Alabama's apportionment scheme did violate the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause

Griswold v. Connecticut

1965

Plaintiff - Griswold
Defendant - Connecticut
Major Issue - Griswold, the executive director of Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, were arrested and found guilty as accessories to providing illegal contraception
Outcome - ruled that the law violated the "right to marital privacy" and could not be enforced against married people

Miranda vs. Arizona

1966

Plaintiff - Miranda
Defendant - Arizona
Major Issue - He appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court, claiming that the police had unconstitutionally obtained his confession
Outcome - ruled that the prosecution could not introduce Miranda's confession as evidence in a criminal trial because the police had failed to first inform Miranda of his right to an attorney and against self-incrimination

Roe vs. Wade

1973

Plaintiff - Jane Roe
Defendant - Wade
Major Issue - women can’t get abortions
Outcome - The Court ruled that the Texas statute violated Jane Roe's constitutional right to privacy

Frontiero vs. Richardson

1973

Plaintiff - Frontiero
Defendant - Richardson
Major Issue - Frontiero, a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, applied for armed service benefits for her husband under a congressional statute. It was denied
Outcome - ruled that the statute was unconstitutional because it impermissibly discriminated against women

Regents of University of California v. Bakke

1978

Plaintiff - Bakke
Defendant - Regents of University of CA
Major Issue - alleging that the medical school's admission policy violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection
Outcome - ruled that a state may constitutionally consider race as a factor in its university admissions to promote educational diversity, but only if considered alongside other factors and on a case-by-case basis

Bowers v. Hardwick

1986

Plaintiff - Bowers
Defendant - Hardwick
Major Issue - Hardwick and his partner were arrested on charges of violating the Georgia Sodomy Statute
Outcome - ruled that the right for gays to engage in sodomy was not protected by the Constitution, that the Georgia law was legal, and that the charges against Hardwick would stand

Casey vs. Planned Parenthood

1992

Plaintiff - Planned Parenthood
Defendant - Casey
Major Issue - Pennsylvania passed the Abortion Control Act, which required women to give "informed consent" before abortions could be performed and imposed a 24-hour waiting period upon women seeking abortions
Outcome - ruling that Roe v. Wade was affirmed but that the bulk of the Pennsylvania law was constitutional nonetheless

Gideon vs. Wainwright

1993

Plaintiff - Gideon
Defendant - Gideon
Major Issue - denied of an attorney
Outcome - acquitted of all charges