The Law Dictionary for Everyone
Following is the case brief for City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997) Case Summary of City of Boerne v. Flores: A Catholic Archbishop wanted to expand a church in Boerne, Texas. Local ordinances prohibited the expansion, and thus the request to expand was denied. The Archbishop challenged the denial, claiming in part that it violated the Religious […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005) Case Summary of Van Orden v. Perry: Thomas Van Orden sued the State of Texas in federal court, claiming that a monument of the Ten Commandments sitting on the grounds of the State capitol building violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Both the federal district court […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97 (1968) Case Summary of Epperson v. Arkansas: The State of Arkansas passed a law in 1928 that made it a criminal offense to teach evolution in public schools A teacher, Epperson, in the 1965-66 term was told to teach from a new textbook that had a chapter on […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640 (2000) Case Summary of Boy Scouts of America v. Dale: James Dale was a Boy Scout from the age of 8. He was an exemplary Scout and eventually became an Eagle Scout. He was accepted in the Scouts as an adult scoutmaster until the Boy […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Abington Tp. v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963) Case Summary of Abington Tp. v. Schempp: This case involves two companion cases, one from Pennsylvania and the other from Maryland. Both Pennsylvania and Maryland passed laws requiring readings from the Holy Bible in public school at the opening of school each day. The Maryland law […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1940) Case Summary of Cantwell v. Connecticut: A man and his two sons, who were all Jehovah’s Witnesses, were going door to door in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood, asking people to hear recordings about their religion. Their preaching offended some listeners. The State charged, and ultimately convicted, them […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Matal v. Tam, 137 S. Ct. 1744 (2017) Case Summary of Matal v. Tam: Simon Tam and his band, “The Slants,” tried to register the band’s name with the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The PTO denied the registration, finding that the band name was disparaging to Asians in violation of the Disparagement Clause […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for McCutcheon v. Fed. Election Comm’n, 134 S. Ct. 1434 (2014) Case Summary of McCutcheon v. Fed. Election Comm’n: Two federal election laws imposed certain limits on how much a person could donate in elections. The “base limit,” restricted how much someone could donate to a particular candidate or committee. The “aggregate limit,” restricted how […]
Read moreFollowing is the case brief for Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957) Case Summary of Roth v. United States: This case consolidates two criminal convictions for obscenity. In the Roth case, a publisher was prosecuted under a federal law, which made it a crime to mail an obscene book. In the Alberts case, a man was prosecuted under […]
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. […]
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