Read about the background of the passage of the 14th Amendment which resulted in the famous case before the Supreme Court, Plessy v Ferguson, almost thirty years later. Suggested student exercises ask students to assess the issue of...

A detailed description of the United States Supreme Court decision on the appeal of the case Escobedo v. Illinois, which ruled on the right to have counsel under the 6th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution.

Detailed account of the Supreme Court case of Mapp v. Ohio with the ruling that states are required to exclude evidence seized by illegal search and seizure in violation of the 4th Amendment.

Supreme Court case involving Myra Bradwell who was denied a license to practice law because she was a married woman. The full text of the decision is included here.

This Supreme Court case involved the subject of criminal anarchy. Read the complete text of the opinion delivered by Justice Sanford of the Supreme Court.

This Supreme Court case dealt with the issue of contraception. View the the Supreme Court opinion as delivered by Justice Douglas.

Chronicles this Supreme Court case that focuses on desegregation and mandatory student reassignment and busing in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Article presents an overview of the history behind the birth of 'affirmative action'. Includes a discussion of the Supreme Court case of Alan Bakke v. the University of California and student exercises that test comprehension of the topic.

Read all about this Supreme Court case involving Negro voting rights in 1935. Features text of the majority opinion of the court.

Review background information about the Slaughter-House Cases then read the complete text of the majority opinion of the court and also the dissenting votes.

A very comprehensive resource for reading all about this landmark case. It includes all the judicial opinions, background summary, and teacher directed activities.

Features the full text of the opinion delivered by Justice Sutherland of the Supreme Court. This case involved the issue of due process of law.

This mini-lesson covers the basics of the Supreme Court's decision that said juvenile offenders have a right to due process. Learners learn about 14th Amendment due process, fairness, and the specific rights afforded juveniles in the...

PBS provides a synopsis of the landmark Supreme Court case of Reynolds v. Sims, the Alabama reapportionment case in which the Court reaffirmed the principle of one person, one vote. Decision was written by Chief Justice Earl Warren.

The history of affirmative action was interwoven with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Read about how the federal government under both President Kennedy and President Nixon attempted to open up jobs to...

Read the judgment of Supreme Court justice, Henry Billings Brown, who wrote for the majority in the Plessy v Ferguson decision that codified the idea of "separate but equal" in the American justice system until it was overturned by Brown...

Provides a brief summary and the text of Chief Justice Brennan's opinion of the Supreme Court in this case involving libel.

This mini-lesson plan covers the basics of the Supreme Court decision that determined that Dred Scott, having lived in a free territory, was not entitled to his freedom. Young scholars learn about the impact of the Court's decision, and...

Learn about the historically important 1873 Slaughter-House Cases on civil rights, which became the first Supreme Court interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

This site is from a unit called 'African-Americans in the Land of Equality.' It looks at the 1954 decision by the Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education case that ended school segregation.

This mini-lesson covers the basics of the Supreme Court's decision that overturned "separate but equal" in public schools. Students learn about segregation and "equality under the law," and they use what they learned to craft compound...

Provides facts about the Supreme Court case Shelley v. Kraemer, including an abstract, links to written opinions of the Court, and how each of the nine justices ruled upon the case.

This mini-lesson covers the basics of the Supreme Court's decision that struck down state bans on interracial marriage. Students learn about the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, and its use in court cases to challenge a range of...

This mini-lesson examines the Supreme Court's ruling that the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause did not apply to American Indians born on Native reservations. Students analyze a primary document and discover how the lack of citizenship...