1.  The Nationalization of the Bill of Rights: An Overview, Richard C. Cortner [online]

2.  Gideon v. Wainwright  [available online]

 
The right to counsel is fundamental to a fair trial and must be guaranteed by the states under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.


3.  Engel v. Vitale  [available online]
 
The First Amendment's establishment clause requires a "wall of separation" between Church and State. It prohibits even nondenominational state-sponsored prayers in public schools.


4. Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe  [available online]
 
This case reinforces the opposition of the United States Supreme Court to school prayer by ruling that officially sanctioned prayers at high school football games are, like prayers in the classroom and clergy-led prayers at middle school graduations ceremonies forbidden by the Constitution.
 
5. Zelman v. Simmons-Harris  [available online]
 
A state vouch program subsidizing tuition to parochial and private schools does not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.  The program is neutral regarding religion; it offers private choice, not government coercion of religion and "was enacted for the valid secular purpose of providing educational assistance to the poor children in demonstrably failing public school system. . . ."


6.  New York Times v. Sullivan  [available online]
 
The First Amendment freedoms of speech and press overrule the common law of libel that is embedded in statutory law throughout the county which casts a chilling effect on criticism of public officials. Public officials must prove actual malice and reckless disregard of the truth to college damages in libel suits agains their critics.
 
7.  Roe v. Wade  [available online]
 
The constitutional right to privacy grants women the absolute right to have abortions during the first trimester of their pregnancies.  Thereafter, states have the authority to regulate abortions to preserve the health and life of the mother and to protect potential life.

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GOVT 2305  American Government and Politics
Cathedral High School, El Paso, Texas
Last updated:  October 2006