The Law Dictionary for Everyone
Following is the case brief for Betts v. Brady, 316 U.S. 455 (1942) Case Summary of Betts v. Brady: The State of Maryland indicted Betts for robbery. Betts could not afford an attorney and asked the court to appoint counsel for him. The court refused, and Betts represented himself at his robbery trial. Betts was ultimately convicted and sentenced to […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union, 521 U.S. 844 (1997) Case Summary of Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union: Congress passed the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) to protect minors from harmful material on the Internet. Two provisions of the CDA were challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other plaintiffs. […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383 (1914) Case Summary of Weeks v. United States: Police officers arrested the defendant, Weeks, at his place of work. Police officers then went to Weeks’ home, gained entry, and took possession of papers and other articles belonging to Weeks. The police did not have a search warrant […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, 14 U.S. 304 (1816) Case Summary of Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee: The State of Virginia seized land from a British loyalist, Lord Fairfax, during the Revolutionary War. It then assigned part of that land to Hunter. After the war, the U.S. made a treaty with Great Britain that protected the […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for King v. Burwell, 135 S. Ct. 2480 (2015) Case Summary of King v. Burwell: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires each State to establish health “exchanges” through which people could obtain health insurance. If a State fails to do so, the federal government provides the health exchange for people in those States. The law […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Smith v. Allwright, 321 U.S. 649 (1944) Case Summary of Smith v. Allwright: The Democratic Party in the State of Texas only allowed white people to vote in Democratic primaries. Smith, a black Texas voter, sued the county election official, Allwright, for damages of $5,000 for denying him the right to vote in the […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1 (1958) Case Summary of Cooper v. Aaron: After the U.S. Supreme Court issued its now famous Brown v. Board of Education decision, desegregating the schools in Little Rock, Arkansas, the Governor and Legislature of Arkansas actively resisted the Court’s decision. The chaos and turmoil the state officials created […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Shaw v. Reno, 509 U.S. 630 (1993) Case Summary of Shaw v. Reno: The State of North Carolina, in response to the U.S. Attorney General’s objection that it had only one majority-black congressional district, created a second majority-black district. Five white North Carolina voters sued, alleging that the State’s reapportionment plan constituted an unconstitutional […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964) Case Summary of Wesberry v. Sanders: Georgia’s Fifth congressional district had a population that was two to three times greater than the populations of other Georgia districts, yet each district had one representative. Voters in the Fifth district sued the Governor and Secretary of State of Georgia, […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Employment Div. v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990) Case Summary of Employment Div. v. Smith: Two members of the Native American Church were fired from their jobs for using the drug peyote because the drug was illegal in Oregon. The fired employees claimed that use of the peyote was an important part of Native […]
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