(no subject)

[camwyn]

From a lot of people, the Do You Know More About The Supreme Court Than Sarah Palin meme:

The Rules: Post info about ONE Supreme Court decision, modern or historic to your lj. (Any decision, as long as it's not Roe v. Wade.) For those who see this on your f-list, take the meme to your OWN lj to spread the fun.

First one that leaps to mind, because it won me some serious points in Academic Decathlon back in high school: Griswold vs. Connecticut. 1965 decision. Legalized birth control on the grounds that the Connecticut law forbidding the use of artificial contraception violated the right to marital privacy. This was in 1965, so as late as '65 you could still get your ass kicked by the state for daring to use the Pill if you happened to live in a place that felt like sticking their noses into your bedroom.

Alternatively, Schenck vs. United States. 1919 decision regarding draft protests during the First World War. Established that freedom of speech does not apply in situations where said speech presents a clear and present danger. Origin of the phrase 'shouting fire in a crowded theater', as the justice writing the decision, Oliver Wendell Holmes, used that example: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic."



Want some fun reading? Stop by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:United_States_Supreme_Court_cases and find a few cases to bone up on.

Comments

[avram]

I've got a different take on Schenck than you do, because I think it was wrongly decided. (My take goes something like: Established that the government has the right to ignore the First Amendment for its own convenience.)

[jmatonak.livejournal.com]

Even Holmes had some qualms about it later, and he wrote the opinion.