Landmark Cases Timeline

  • Cooper v. Aaron

    Cooper v. Aaron
    The relief the plaintiffs requested was for the African American children to be returned to segregated schools and for the implementation of the desegregation plan to be postponed for two and a half years.
  • Gideon v. Wainwright

    Gideon v. Wainwright
    A case in which the Court held that the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee a right of legal counsel to anyone accused of a crime.
  • Mapp v. Ohio

    Mapp v. Ohio
    Dollree Mapp was convicted of possessing obscene materials after an admittedly illegal police search of her home for a fugitive. She appealed her conviction on the basis of freedom of expression. The court ruled in her favor, due to the search being illegal.
  • Engel v. Vitale

    Engel v. Vitale
    The New York State Board of Regents authorized a short, voluntary prayer for recitation at the start of each school day. A group of organizations joined forces in challenging the prayer.
  • Brown v. Board of Education

    Brown v. Board of Education
    decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional
  • Goss v. Lopez

    Goss v. Lopez
    The Court held that Ohio was constrained to recognize students' entitlements to education as property interests protected by the Due Process Clause.
  • Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser

    Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser
    A case in which the Court held that public schools have the right to prohibit the use of vulgar and offensive language.
  • Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier

    Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier
    The principal of Hazelwood East High School edited two articles in the school paper The Spectrum that he deemed inappropriate. The student authors argued that this violated their First Amendment right to freedom of speech. The Supreme Court disagreed, stating that administrators can edit materials that reflect school values.
  • Grutter v. Bollinger

    Grutter v. Bollinger
    admissions programs which consider race as one of many factors in the context of an individualized consideration of all applicants can pass constitutional muster.
  • Board of Education of Independent School District #92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls

    Board of Education of Independent School District #92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls
    The Student Activities Drug Testing Policy adopted by the Tecumseh, Oklahoma School District (School District) requires all middle and high school students to consent to urinalysis testing for drugs in order to participate in any extracurricular activity.