Q&A Hero

Q: In The Florida Star v. B.J.F. (1989), the Court overturned a(n) ____________ verdict against a newspaper that reported the name of a rape victim, where the newspaper had obtained the victim's name from a police report that had been released in violation of state law and the established police department policy. a. libel b. slander c. defamation of character d. invasion of privacy

Q: As stated by Justice Brennan, the standard in defamation cases "prohibits a public official from recovering damages for a defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves that the statement was made with ___________; that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not." a. ill will b. hatred of the public official c. actual malice d. actual discontent

Q: In ________________, the Supreme Court adhered to its decision in Texas v. Johnson and struck down the Flag Protection Act as applied to flag burning as a means of political protest. a. United States v. Eichman (1990) b. Street v. New York (1969) c. Doran v. Salem Inn (1975) d. None of the above is true.

Q: In _____________, the Court rejected the First Amendment claim of a Vietnam War protester that publicly burning his draft card was a form of constitutionally protected symbolic speech. a. Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940) b. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) c. United States v. O"Brien (1968) d. none of the above

Q: In ______________, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a state statute that increases the severity of punishment if a crime victim is chosen on the basis of race or other designated characteristics. a. R.A.V. v. St. Paul (1992) b. Wisconsin v. Mitchell (1993) c. Virginia v. Black (2003) d. None of the above is true.

Q: Dissenting in Dennis v. United States (1951), Justice __________________ wrote, "I have always believed that the First Amendment is the keystone of our Government, that the freedoms it guarantees provide the best insurance against destruction of all freedom . . . So long as this Court exercises the power of judicial review of legislation, I cannot agree that the First Amendment permits us to sustain laws suppressing freedom of speech and press on the basis of Congress' or our own notions of mere "˜reasonableness." Such a doctrine waters down the First Amendment so that it amounts to little more than an admonition to Congress." a. Benjamin Cardozo b. Hugo Black c. Robert Jackson d. Felix Frankfurter

Q: Under the _______________, courts were required in each case to "ask whether the gravity of the "˜evil," discounted by its improbability, justifies such invasion of free speech as is necessary to avoid the danger." a. clear and present danger test b. clear and probable danger test c. bad tendency test d. None of the above is true.

Q: In Abrams v. United States (1919), the Supreme Court affirmed the convictions of Jacob Abrams, a self-styled "anarchist Socialist," and several associates for distributing leaflets in New York City urging the "workers of the world" to resist, among other things, American intervention in Russia against the newly formed Bolshevik government under the ______________. a. clear and present danger test b. clear and probable danger test c. bad tendency test d. None of the above is true.

Q: In _____________________the Supreme Court voted to uphold a public school principal's decision to excise certain controversial material from the school newspaper. a. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) b. Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) c. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) d. None of the above is true.

Q: In Commentaries on the Laws of England, Vol. IV (1769), ______________ stated the rule against prior restraint in the context of freedom of the press: "The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state; but this consists in laying no previous restraints upon publications, and not in freedom from censure for criminal matter when published." a. Thomas Jefferson b. Alexander Hamilton c. John Adams d. Sir William Blackstone

Q: Writing for the Court in Palko v. Connecticut (1937), Justice __________ characterized freedom of speech as "the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom." a. Benjamin Cardozo b. Hugo Black c. Robert Jackson d. Felix Frankfurter

Q: In the 1958 decision in ________ the Supreme Court held that a state had infringed the constitutional rights of organization members by enforcing a law requiring organizations based outside the state to register members' names and addresses. Specifically, the Court held that the law violated the First Amendment freedom of association. a. NAACP v. Alabama b. Rostker v. Goldberg c. Nebbia v. New York d. None of the above is true.

Q: As a Supreme Court justice, former Harvard law professor Felix Frankfurter sharply criticized the doctrine that the First Amendment occupies a(an) "__________ position." a. ignoble b. preferred c. sacrosanct d. unfettered

Q: Which of the following forms of expression is least likely to be accorded First Amendment protection? a. Commercial advertising b. Symbolic political speech c. Libel d. Questionable scientific claims

Q: In Miller v. California (1973) the Supreme Court stated that the "basic guidelines" that the "trier of fact" must follow in an obscenity case include the determination of whether the work in question a. is indecent. b. shocks the conscience of the average adult. c. lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. d. is utterly without redeeming social importance.

Q: In New York Times v. United States (1971) the Supreme Court rebuffed the Nixon Administration's attempt to block publication of the a. Communist Manifesto. b. Watergate Tapes. c. Pentagon Papers. d. names of CIA agents stationed in Southeast Asia.

Q: In Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council (1976), the Supreme Court struck down a state law banning a. the advertisement of prescription drug prices. b. the sale of "generic" drugs. c. the sale of certain "over the counter" medications to minors. d. the use of birth control devices.

Q: In Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988), the Supreme Court _________ a public school principal's decision to excise certain controversial material from the school newspaper. a. refused to review b. upheld c. reversed d. enjoined

Q: The doctrine of _____________ prohibits laws that do not aim specifically at evils the government has a right to prevent but sweep within their ambit activities that are protected by the First Amendment. a. overbreadth b. vagueness c. imminent lawless action d. desuetude

Q: In NAACP v. Alabama (1958), the Supreme Court held that Alabama had infringed the NAACP's __________ by enforcing a law requiring organizations based outside the state to register members' names and addresses. a. right of privacy b. freedom of assembly c. right to petition government for a redress of grievances d. freedom of association

Q: In _____________ (1961), the Supreme Court upheld Section 2 of the Smith Act, which made it a crime to belong to the Communist Party. a. Jackson v. United States b. Bonner v. American Communist Party c. Dennis v. Higgins d. Scales v. United States

Q: By the early 1950s, ______________, with its emphasis on the alleged "communist menace" to internal security, had achieved national prominence. a. McCarthyism b. conservatism c. Progressivism d. None of the above is true.

Q: Under New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), a public official cannot prevail in a libel suit unless he or she can show that the defendant's statements were made with a. criminal negligence. b. actual malice. c. reckless abandon. d. defamatory intent.

Q: Over the years Supreme Court justices have advocated a variety of positions regarding freedom of expression, ranging from the ___________ adopted by Hugo Black to the __________ approach favored by John M. Harlan. a. clear and present danger test; clear and probable danger b. bad tendency test; absolutist position c. ad hoc balancing; clear and present danger d. absolutist position; ad hoc balancing

Q: As a Supreme Court justice, former Harvard law professor ___________ was critical of the doctrine that the First Amendment occupied a "preferred position." a. Hugo Black b. Wiley Rutledge c. Robert Jackson d. Felix Frankfurter

Q: Despite the importance of the First Amendment, the Supreme Court did not begin to give major attention to these rights until after a. the Civil War. b. World War I. c. the Great Depression. d. World War II.

Q: The Supreme Court has consistently maintained that ____________ is not protected by the First Amendment. a. obscenity b. symbolic speech c. political association d. All of the above are true.

Q: In Texas v. Johnson, the flag-burning decision of 1989, it was surprising that two Reagan appointees, Justices __________ and ________, joined the majority in reversing Johnson's conviction. a. Scalia; Kennedy b. O"Connor; Kennedy c. Souter; Scalia d. O"Connor; Scalia

Q: In Tinker v. Des Moines Community School District (1969), John and Mary Beth Tinker wore ____________ to school to protest American involvement in the Vietnam War. a. military fatigues b. peace signs c. black armbands d. North Vietnamese flags

Q: Writing for the Supreme Court in Roth v. United States (1957), Justice Brennan expressed the view that obscenity a. was utterly without redeeming social importance. b. was protected by the First Amendment. c. was not a crime under federal law. d. None of the above is true.

Q: In Feiner v. New York (1951), the Supreme Court upheld a conviction for _______ arising from a street corner speech that produced unrest. a. seditious libel b. disorderly conduct c. lewd and lascivious conduct d. incitement to riot

Q: In Brandenburg v. Ohio, (1969), the Supreme Court invalidated a state _______ statute, thus explicitly overruling Whitney v. California. a. libel b. obscenity c. criminal syndicalism d. vagrancy

Q: In Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925), the Supreme Court struck down an amendment to the Oregon constitution aimed at prohibiting parents from sending their children to a. day care centers. b. work in factories. c. private schools. d. None of the above is true.

Q: In Gitlow v. New York (1925), the Supreme Court upheld a conviction under New York's _________________, which prohibited advocacy of the overthrow of government "by force or violence." a. Criminal Anarchy Act b. Clear and Present Danger Act c. Seditious Libel Act d. Smith Act

Q: In Schenck v. United States (1919), Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. first articulated the famous ________________ test. a. clear and present danger b. clear and probable danger c. imminent lawless action d. bad tendency

Q: For a brief period during the administration of President John Adams, the national government sought to suppress public criticism through enforcement of the __________, passed by Congress in 1798. a. Seditious Libel Act b. Northwest Ordinance c. Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions d. Sedition Act

Q: In__________________, the Court ruled unanimously that states do not violate the Public Use Clause by adopting a policy for the redistribution of land as a means of reducing high concentration of ownership. a.Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff (1984) b. Keystone Bituminous Coal Association v. DeBenedictis (1987) c. Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (1987) d. None of the above is true.

Q: In_____________, the Supreme Court, by a 5-to-4 vote, dramatically overruled both the Adkins and Tipaldo decisions. a. Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934) b. Nebbia v. New York (1934) c.United States v. Butler (1936) d. West Coast Hotel Company v. Parrish (1937)

Q: In ______________, the Supreme Court upheld the Minnesota Mortgage Moratorium Act, finding that its provisions did not violate the Contracts Clause. a. Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934) b. Nebbia v. New York (1934) c.United States v. Butler (1936) d. West Coast Hotel Company v. Parrish (1937)

Q: In______________, the Supreme Court upheld by a 5-to-4 margin the power of a state to regulate the retail price of milk. a. Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934) b. Nebbia v. New York (1934) c.United States v. Butler (1936) d. West Coast Hotel Company v. Parrish (1937)

Q: Justice ______________ dissenting opinion in The Slaughterhouse Cases anticipated the Court's later development of the Due Process Clause as the basis for protecting property rights. a. Thomas M. Cooley's b. Samuel F. Miller's c. Joseph L. Bradley's d. None of the above is true.

Q: In ____________, the Court held in essence that a corporate charter was a contract, the terms of which could not be changed materially by the state without violating the Constitution. a.Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) b. Sturges v. Crowninshield (1819) c. Ogden v. Saunders (1827) d. None of the above is true.

Q: Chief Justice John Marshall recorded his only dissenting opinion in which constitutional case? a.Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) b. Sturges v. Crowninshield (1819) c. Ogden v. Saunders (1827) d. None of the above is true.

Q: In____________, the Supreme Court invalidated as a violation of the Contracts Clause an act of the Georgia legislature that rescinded the state's sale of land to private investors. a. Calder v. Bull (1798) b. Marbury v. Madison (1803) c. Fletcher v. Peck (1810) d. None of the above is true.

Q: The Supreme Court held in _________ that the ex post facto limitation applied only to retroactive criminal statutes and not to laws affecting properly rights or contractual obligations. a. Calder v. Bull (1798) b. Marbury v. Madison (1803) c. Fletcher v. Peck (1810) d. None of the above is true.

Q: The Contracts Clause of the Constitution is found in a. Article I, Section 9. b. Article I, Section 10. c. Article II, Section 9. d. None of the above is true.

Q: Justice Joseph L. Bradley's dissenting opinion in _____________anticipated the Court's later development of the Due Process Clause as the basis for protecting property rights. a. The Civil Rights Cases b. The Slaughterhouse Cases c. Munn v. Illinois d. None of the above is true.

Q: Liberty of contract isprotected by the ________________, whereas the Contracts Clause within the Constitution is found in Article I, Section 10. a. Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment b. Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment c. Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment d. None of the above is true.

Q: In _____________, the Supreme Court held that a city had taken private property without just compensation where the city was unwilling to grant a development because the owner refused to dedicate part of the land to a public use. a. Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (1987) b. Kelo v. City of New London (2005) c. PruneYard Shopping Center v. Robins (1980) d. Dolan v. City of Tigard (1994)

Q: In ____________, the Supreme Court held that a Pennsylvania law designed to prevent subsidence damage from coal mining did not on its face violate either the Takings Clause or the Contracts Clause. a. Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff (1984) b. Pennsylvania Coal Company v. Mahon (1922) c. First English Evangelical Lutheran Church v. County of Los Angeles (1987) d. Keystone Bituminous Coal Association v. DeBenedictis (1987)

Q: ___________ stated in Pennsylvania Coal Company v. Mahon (1922) that"the general rule [in the area of eminent domain] is that while property may be regulated to a certain extent, if regulation goes too far it will be recognized as a taking." a. Justice Hugo Black b. Justice Louis Brandeis c. Oliver Wendell Holmes d. Charles Evans Hughes

Q: In 1897, the ___________ became the first provision of the Bill of Rights to be incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment and thus made applicable to the states. a. Just Compensation Clause b. Contracts Clause c. right to a jury trial d. None of the above is true.

Q: The Supreme Court used _________ to strike down a provision of an Illinois law exempting the American Express Company from the requirement that any firm selling or issuing money orders in the state obtain a license and submit to state regulation in Morey v. Doud (1957). a. due process b. equal protection c. the contracts clause d. None of the above is true.

Q: As a constitutional doctrine, substantive due process lives on in recent Supreme Court decisions recognizing various noneconomic rights under the ______ and _____ Amendments, especially the constitutional right of privacy. a. Third; Fourteenth b. Fourth; Fourteenth c. Fifth; Fourteenth d. Sixth; Fourteenth

Q: In ____________, the Supreme Court, in an opinion by Justice Hugo Black, upheld the validity of a Kansas statute conferring a virtual monopoly on the legal profession to engage in the business of "debt adjusting." a. Ferguson v. Skrupa (1963) b. Mulford v. Smith (1939) c. United States v. Darby (1941) d. None of the above is true.

Q: The Supreme Court's repudiation of substantive due process as a restriction on the regulation of business was signaled by which two key decisions in 1934? a. Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell and Morehead v. New York ex rel. Tipaldo b. Nebbia v. New York and Morehead v. New York ex rel. Tipaldo c. Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell and Nebbia v. New York d. Morehead v. New York ex rel. Tipaldo and Carter v. Carter Coal Company

Q: In _____________, the Court, rejecting a Contracts Clause challenge to a state law regulating natural gas prices, recognized that the prohibition of laws impairing the obligation of contracts must be balanced against a state's "inherent police power to safeguard the vital interests of its people." a. Allied Structural Steel Company v. Spannaus (1978) b. United States Trust Company v. New Jersey (1977) c. Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934) d. Energy Reserves Group v. Kansas Power & Light (1983)

Q: In ____________, the Supreme Court refused to extend Contracts Clause protection to a chartered lottery company subsequently prohibited from selling lottery tickets in Mississippi. a. Charles River Bridge Company v. Warren Bridge Company (1837) b. Stone v. Mississippi (1880) c. Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934) d. None of the above is true.

Q: _______ once wrote, "This term ["property"] in its particular application means "that dominion which one man claims and exercises over the external things of the world, in exclusion of every other individual." In its larger and juster meaning, it embraces everything to which a man may attach a value and have a right; and which leaves to everyone else the like advantage. In the former sense, a man's land, or merchandise, or money is called his property. In the latter sense, a man has a property in his opinions and the free communication of them." a. Thomas Jefferson b. John Adams c. James Madison d. Alexander Hamilton

Q: The term __________rights includes the ownership, acquisition, and use of private property, whereas __________ freedom denotes the cluster of rights associated with private enterprise. a.property; economic b. economic; property c. public; private d. private; public

Q: Which of the following provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment was used most extensively during the early 1900s as a basis for limiting state economic regulation? a. Privileges and Immunities Clause b. Equal Protection Clause c. Section 5 d. Due Process Clause

Q: The Supreme Court held in Calder v. Bull (1798) that the _________ Clause applies only to retroactive criminal statutes and not to laws affecting property rights or contractual obligations. a. Ex Post Facto b. Contract c. Commerce d. Full Faith and Credit

Q: Today the Contracts Clause is ______ employed as a limitation on state power. a. often b. seldom c. never d. always

Q: In Munn v. Illinois (1877), the Supreme Court endorsed and applied the doctrine of a. business affected with a public interest. b. liberty of contract. c. natural rights. d. fair return on a fair value.

Q: From the 1890s through the mid-1930s the U.S. Supreme Court frequently interpreted the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as a substantive limitation on a. freedom of speech b. federal criminal prosecutions c. economic regulation by the states d. voting rights

Q: Which of the following sets of justices dissented in both Nebbia v. New York (1934) and West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937)? a. Holmes, Hughes, Brandeis, and Stone b. Holmes, Brandeis, Douglas, and Black c. Sutherland, Van Devanter, McReynolds, and Butler d. Butler, Sutherland, Hughes, and Stone

Q: The majority opinion in the Charles River Bridge decision of 1837 was authored by a. Chief Justice Taney. b. Chief Justice Marshall. c. Justice Story. d. Justice McLean.

Q: During the 1980s, legal theorists such as _________ urged the Supreme Court to resurrect its former commitment to private property and private enterprise. a. Robert Bork b. Raoul Berger c. Richard Epstein d. Lief Carter

Q: The power of the government to take private property for a public purpose is known as a. eminent domain. b. fee simple. c. sovereign immunity. d.corpus juris maximus.

Q: In Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886), the Court invalidated a San Francisco ordinance requiring owners of ________ housed in wooden buildings to obtain permission from the Board of Supervisors to continue operating their businesses. a. laundries b. bakeries c. restaurants d. theaters

Q: In ____________________ (1937), the Supreme Court upheld a Washington state minimum wage law enacted in 1913. a. West Coast Hotel v. Parrish b. Adkins v. Children's Hospital c. Steward Machine Co. v. Davis d. Mulford v. Smith

Q: In Muller v. Oregon (1908), attorney _______________ submitted a novel brief presenting extensive sociological and medical data in support of the state's contention that the limitation of working hours was directly related to the promotion of the health and welfare of women. a. Oliver Wendell Holmes b. William O. Douglas c. Learned Hand d. Louis D. Brandeis

Q: In Lochner v. New York (1905), the Supreme Court struck down a state law specifying a maximum sixty-hour work week for a. bakery employees. b. coal miners. c. seamstresses. d. factory workers.

Q: In 1882 former Senator _______________, in an argument before the Supreme Court, unveiled his "conspiracy theory" of the Fourteenth Amendment. a. Charles Tanner b. Horace Munn c. Aaron Cooper d. Roscoe Conkling

Q: The ______ movement of the late nineteenth century involved thousands of farmers seeking legislative protection against excessive freight rates charged by railroads and other businesses involved in the distribution of agricultural commodities. a. Free Silver b. Granger c. Cross of Gold d. Progressive

Q: In The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873), a narrowly divided Supreme Court upheld a state grant of a monopoly in the slaughtering business in a. New Orleans, Louisiana. b. Houston, Texas. c. Chicago, Illinois. d. None of the above is true.

Q: Beginning in the late 1880s, the Supreme Court used substantive due process, as well as the Commerce Clause, the Tenth Amendment and related constitutional provisions, to protect _______________ from ________________. a. economic individualism; legislative power b. public policy; economic individualism c. economic freedom; individualism d. the government's police power; Social Darwinism

Q: Constitutional Limitations, written by _________________, was an influential legal treatise published in 1868. a. Thomas M. Cooley b. Roscoe Conkling c. Thomas I. Emerson d. Stephen J. Field

Q: In Adair v. United States (1908), the Supreme Court invalidated on Fifth Amendment due process grounds a federal act outlawing "__________" contracts, under which persons agreed, as a condition of employment, not to join labor unions. a. yellow dog b. scab c. union buster d. muckraker

Q: The ____________ Clause of the Constitution figured prominently in the Supreme Court's protection of property rights during the early part of the nineteenth century. a. General Welfare b. Supremacy c. Contracts d. Full Faith and Credit