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Kent v. Dulles
Rockwell Kent applied for and was refused a passport to visit England. The passport application refusal was rested on his Communist Party affiliations. The Passport Office Director also has informed Kent that in order for a passport he would need a hearing. He was also instructed to sign an affidavit to inform those if he is currently a communist or was a communist. Kent refused to sign the affidavit concerning his Communist affiliations. He was notified and declined until he signs the paper. -
Griswold v. Connecticut
In 1879, Connecticut passed a law that banned use of any drug, medical device, or other instruments that furthered contraception. A gynecologist at the Yale School of Medicine opened a birth control clinic in New Haven with the help of Estelle Griswold. Griswold was the head of Planned Parenthood in Connecticut. They were both arrested because they broke the law and their convictions were affirmed by higher state courts. They had planned to use the clinic to challenge the constitutionality. -
Loving v. Virginia
In 1958, Mildred Jeter (a woman of color) and Richard Loving (a white man), were marries in the District of Columbia. They returned to Virginia, where they reside, and they were charged with violating the states anti miscegenation statute which banned inter-racial marriage. They were found guilty and sentenced to a year in jail. The judge agreed to suspend the sentence if they left Virginia and not return for 25 years. The state of Virginia violated the constitution. -
Roe v. Wade
Jane Roe, not a real name due to protection of identity, filed a lawsuit against Henry Wade. Henry Wade is the district attorney of Dallas County, Texas, which was where Jane Roe resided. She challenged a Texas law making abortion illegal except by a doctors orders to save a woman's life. In her lawsuit she states that the laws were unconstitutionally vague and abridged her rights of personal privacy. Privacy is protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. -
Bowers v. Hardwick
Michael Hardwick was observed by a Georgia police officer while engaging in the act of consensual homosexual intercourse with another man in his bedroom of his home. He was charged with violating a Georgia statute that criminalized intercourse with the same sex. Hardwick challenged the statutes constitutionality and he had failed to state a claim. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded that Georgia's statute was unconstitutional.