The majority opinion in Miranda v. Arizona (1966) was authored by _____.
a. Chief Justice Earl Warren
b. Justice William Brennan
c. Justice Potter Stewart
d. Justice Hugo Black
Who wrote the majority opinion in McDonald v. City of Chicago?
a. Justice Kagan
b. Justice Alito
c. Chief Justice Roberts
d. Justice Souter
According to U.S. v. Leon (1984), evidence obtained through a warrantless search is not
subject to the exclusionary rule as long as police are acting in “good faith.”
a. TRUE
b. FALSE
Who was the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court?
a. Clarence Thomas
b. William J. Brennan
c. Thurgood Marshall
d. Sandra Day O”Connor
The proposition that the central government and states confront each other in the
relationship of superior and subordinate describes ______.
a. the doctrine of dual federalism
b. the doctrine of national supremacy
c. the supremacy clause
d. None of the above
According to Justice Iredell in Calder v. Bull, the “ideas of natural justice” are _____.
a. regulated by no fixed standard
b. enforceable by the Supreme Court
c. are followed by the most able jurists
d. None of the above
In _____, the Supreme Court held that businesses “clothed in the public interest” could
be regulated by the states.
a. Charles River Bridge Co. v. Warren Bridge Co. (1837)
b. Munn v. Illinois (1877)
c. Lochner v. New York (1905)
d. West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1934)
Chief Justice/Justice _____ famous footnote in United States v. Carolene Products Co.
(1938) recognized potential constitutional problems resulting from efforts to limit rights
found in the first ten amendments.
a. Oliver Wendell Holmes’s
b. Felix Frankfurter’s
c. Harlan F. Stone’s
d. Charles Evans Hughes’s
John Marshall was named chief justice by ______.
a. George Washington
b. John Adams
c. Thomas Jefferson
d. James Madison
Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment grants Congress the authority to legislate in the
field of _____.
a. eminent domain
b. presidential power
c. civil rights
d. international relations
Who was the last Supreme Court nominee of President George H. W. Bush?
a. Clarence Thomas
b. William J. Brennan
c. David J. Souter
d. Thurgood Marshall
InMorrison v. Olson (1988), the Supreme Court upheld a provision of the Ethics in
Government Act of 1978 under which a “Special Division” of the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia is empowered to appoint _____.
a. federal marshals
b. independent counsels
c. federal magistrates
d. special jurists
In Whitney v. California, Ms. Whitney was convicted of violating California’s law
against _____.
a. harboring a fugitive
b. criminal syndicalism
c. voter fraud
d. distributing obscene materials
In Wallace v. Jaffree (1985), the Supreme Court _____ an Alabama law that required
students in public schools to _____.
a. reviewed; recite an official prayer composed by the state board of education
b. upheld; study “creation science” as well as the theory of evolution
c. struck down; observe a moment of silence at the start of each school day
d. struck down; remain silent during graduation prayers
In the case of Mapp v. Ohio (1961), Dollree Mapp had been prosecuted on a charge of
_____.
a. harboring a fugitive
b. resisting arrest
c. arson
d. None of the above
Personally abusive epithets or insults that are intended to and inherently likely to
provoke violence are known as _____.
a. obscenities
b. fighting words
c. hate speech
d. solicitations
_________ was a case arising from World War II that was the focus of both the majority
and dissenting opinions in Boumediene v. Bush.
a. Ex parte Quirin
b. Ex parte Milligan
c. Johnson v. Eisentrager
d. None of the above
Robert Yates was ______.
a. a signer of the Declaration of Independence
b. an author of the Letters of Brutus
c. Alexander Hamilton’s cousin
d.a proponent of Federalism
In Miller v. California (1973), the Supreme Court held that to be obscene, a particular
work had to be totally without redeeming social value.
a. TRUE
b. FALSE
In _____, the Supreme Court declared gender discrimination to be a _____ category for
applying the equal protection clause.
a. Reed v. Reed (1971); suspect
b. Frontiero v. Richardson (1973); quasi-suspect
c. Craig v. Boren (1976); quasi-suspect
d. Mississippi University for Women v. Hogan (1982); suspect
In Gibbons v. Ogden, Marshall defined commerce as _____.
a. slow
b. intercourse
c. fast
d.concurrent
In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), the Supreme Court held that
_____.
a. racial quotas were impermissible, but race could be a factor in admissions policies
b. affirmative action programs discriminated against undeserving individuals
c. racial quotas were an acceptable method of overcoming past discrimination
d. for more than a century and a half, the Constitution had not been color blind
Through 2010, who is the most recent nominee to the Supreme Court not to be
confirmed?
a. Douglas Ginsburg
b. Robert Bork
c. Ave Fortas
d. Harriet Miers
In which of the following cases did the Supreme Court dismiss as nonjusticiable a
lawsuit challenging malapportionment?
a. Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1960)
b. Reynolds v. Sims (1964)
c. Colegrove v. Green (1946)
d. Flast v. Cohen (1968)
Article II enumerates specific powers granted to the president. These include the
authority to _____.
a. nominate federal judges
b. suspend writs of habeas corpus
c. withhold privileged communications
d. All of the above
District of Columbia v. Heller involved _____.
a. the commerce clause
b. the due process clause
c. the Second Amendment
d. the Third Amendment
Who won the case of Marbury v. Madison?
a. Alexander Hamilton
b. John Marshall
c. William Marbury
d. James Madison
In U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995), the Supreme Court declared term limits
for members of the U.S. Congress _____.
a. violative of the Membership Clause of Article I
b. violative of the Tenth Amendment
c. violative of the Republican Form of Government Clause of Article IV
d. nonjusticiable under the “political questions” doctrine
In Federalist No. 78, _____ argued that the judiciary would be the “least dangerous
branch.”
a. James Madison
b. John Jay
c. Benjamin Franklin
d. Alexander Hamilton
Under the revised death penalty statute upheld by the Supreme Court in Gregg v.
Georgia (1976), the jury must find _____ to be present in a capital offense before it can
impose a death sentence.
a. at least one mitigating factor
b. at least one aggravating factor
c. premeditation
d. criminal intent
_____ stands for the proposition that police, upon making a lawful arrest, may perform
a warrantless search only of the area within the suspect’s immediate grasp and control.
a. Aguilar v. Texas (1964)
b. Chimel v. California (1969)
c. Stone v. Powell (1976)
d. Illinois v. Gates (1983)
Whose retirement created the vacancy eventually filled by Sandra Day O”Connor?
a. Ronald Reagan
b. Potter Stewart
c. William O. Douglas
d. Harold Burton