4 Court Cases By: Cody Simms

Island Trees School District v. Pico 1982

ISLAND TREES SCHOOL DISTRICT V. PICO 1982 1st Amendment: limits power of schools to remove their library books Once upon a time there lived a concerned, evil school board that wanted to remove bad books from school libraries. Bad books included books that had like anti-American or anti-Christian books. All of a sudden, the hero, Steven Pico and four other students challenged the evil school board's decision. The teenagers won. The Court ruled that schools can’t remove books from school libraries for the purpose of denying students access to ideas. It is a violation of the First Amendment........freedom of Speech and religion. A Previous Supreme Court decisions that impacted the case was Tinker v. Des Moines (Day Moine)

New York Times Co. v. Sullivan 1964

NEW YORK TIMES CO. V. SULLIVAN 1964 1st Amendment: gives press the freedom to libel and slander One day, The New York Times had an ad paid for by civil right activists. The ad criticized the Montgomery police department for its treatment of civil rights protestors. Some of the statements were false. The police commissioner, Sullivan, was mad and sued the newspaper in an Alabama court. He argued that the ad had damaged his reputation, and he had been libeled (lie bulled). The Alabama court ruled in favor of Sullivan, finding that the newspaper ad falsely represented the police department and Sullivan. The New York Times took its case to the Supreme Court arguing that the ad was not meant to hurt Sullivan's reputation and was protected under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the newspaper. The Court said the right to publish all statements is protected under the First Amendment. Previous Supreme Court decisions that impacted the case include the Sedition Acts and Near v. Minnesota.

National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie 1977

NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY OF AMERICA V. VILLAGE OF SKOKIE 1977 1st Amendment: displaying swastikas is a form of symbolic speech Once upon a time in the village of Skokie, their lived the Socialist Party. They tried to hold a march and discussion in a public park. To prevent the Socialist Party, the villagers went to a trial court. The trial court agreed with the villagers and prohibited the party from displaying the swastika and from displaying any materials that suggested hatred. The Supreme Court, however, concluded that the public display of the swastika, as offensive as it may be is a form of symbolic political speech granted under our freedoms of Assembly and Petition under the 1st Amendment. Previous Supreme Court decisions that impacted the case included Edwards v. South Carolina and Brown v. Louisiana

Grutter V. Bollinger 2003

GRUTTER V. BOLLINGER 2003 14th Amendment: Once upon a time, there lived a smart student named Barbara Grutter. She got rejected from the law school at the University of Michigan. She thought this was unfair. She believed that the school accepted minority candidates over her even if those individuals had worse grades than her. Grutter claimed that the University violated her 14th Amendment rights. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the University because the school admission process involved things other than simply grades, like diversity for example. There was no way to prove that the school accepted people based on their ethnicity. Because of this ruling, the court also required that the verdict in the case of Bakke v. California, a similar court case, be overturned as well. 14th Amendment: Affirmative Action does not violate Equal Protection Clause