Further Interpretations
After the passage of the post–Civil War amendments, the Supreme Court continued to interpret how the Constitution applied to state and federal laws. Beginning in 1920, these interpretations were also influenced by the Nineteenth Amendment, which extended the right to vote to women, stating that it could not be “denied or abridged…on account of sex.”
As you read these summaries of significant Supreme Court cases, consider how the court’s definitions of rights and to whom they apply have changed over the past hundred or so years.
1896: Plessy v. Ferguson
The Supreme Court upholds the legality of racial segregation under the concept that facilities can be “separate but equal.”
1919: Schenck v. United States
The Supreme Court explores the limits of free speech under the First Amendment. The court holds that the defendants, who had distributed pamphlets to draft-age men urging them to resist being drafted into World War I, had committed a crime by obstructing the draft. The court explains its limitation on the right of free speech with this example:
“The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic. [...] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.”
1954: Brown v. Board of Education
The Supreme Court declares segregation of public schools to be unconstitutional. It states that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” and a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision is a significant victory for the civil rights movement, and paves the way for racial integration. Plessy v. Ferguson is no longer considered a meaningful precedent.
1965: Griswold v. Connecticut
The Supreme Court rules that the Constitution protects a “right to privacy” and people have a right to be protected from unreasonable governmental intrusion (in this case, regarding the use by married couples of birth control devices or drugs).
1973: Roe v. Wade
The Supreme Court rules that the “right to privacy” extends to a woman’s decision to have an abortion, legalizing the practice. After nearly 50 years of fierce debate and controversy over this issue, the Supreme Court, as constituted in 2022, overturns this decision and holds that this is not a federally guaranteed right.
2010: Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission
The Supreme Court rules that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting the amount of money corporations and other organizations such as unions can spend on media campaigns to influence elections and political causes. The ruling defines the spending of funds in this manner as an act of free speech and therefore stipulates there can be no legal limit on how much money can be spent. In effect, the ruling awards organizations such as corporations and unions the same rights to free speech as individuals.
2015: Obergefell v. Hodges
The Supreme Court rules that the right to marry is fundamental and guaranteed to same-sex couples by the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. This legalizes same-sex marriage throughout the United States.
Take Notes
In what ways have the court’s definitions of rights, and to whom they apply, changed over time? Provide two or three specific examples.
Calderwood Writing Course: U.S. History
