The “__________” theory articulated in Everson v. Board of Education (1947) has, for
the most part, been maintained by the Supreme Court.
a. strict neutrality
b. cultural diversity
c. child benefit
d. None of the above is true.
In League of United Latin American Voters v. Perry (2006), the Supreme Court
________ a controversial Texas congressional reapportionment plan that strongly
advantaged Republican incumbents.
a. upheld
b. invalidated
c. denied certiorari
d. None of the above is true.
Which justice authored the majority opinion in Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972)?
a. Douglas
b. Frankfurter
c. Black
d. None of the above is true.
Although formally granted the right to vote by the Fifteenth Amendment, many Black
Americans were still effectively disenfranchised by practices such as
a. literacy tests.
b. white primaries.
c. poll taxes.
d. All of the above are true.
In _______________, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Warren expanded the
scope of Fourth Amendment protection to include wiretapping, an important tool of
modern law enforcement.
a. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
b. Katz v. United States (1967)
c. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
d. none of the above
Classical _____________ hold that individuals must often be protected against their
own vices, and defends the embodiment of traditional morality in the law.
a. conservatism
b. liberalism
c. libertarianism
d. none of the above
Which of the following was most effective in protecting and implementing the voting
rights of African Americans?
a. Invalidation of the white primary
b. Invalidation of the grandfather clause
c. Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957
d. Passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
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
In Palko v. Connecticut (1937) the Supreme Court refused to incorporate the
_________ Clause of the Fifth Amendment into the Due Process Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
a. Due Process
b. Public Use
c. Double Jeopardy
d. Just Compensation
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
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
Which Justice wrote the Court’s opinion in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)?
a. Clarence Thomas
b. William Rehnquist
c. John Paul Stevens
d. Stephen Breyer
In__________, the Supreme Court held that the ex post facto clauses applied to
criminal but not to civil laws.
a.Calder v. Bull (1798)
b. Marbury v. Madison (1803)
c. Fletcher v. Peck (1810)
d. Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
Grovey v. Townsend, the 1935 decision in which the Supreme Court had upheld the
so-called _______, was overruled in Smith v. Allwright (1944).
a. grandfather clause
b. racial gerrymander
c. preclearance requirement
d. white primary
Under the doctrine of ___________________, the state assumes ultimate responsibility
for caring for children, mentally retarded persons, and persons who are insane.
a. in loco parentis
b. obiter dicta
c. sovereign immunity
d. parens patriae
The Second Amendment refers to the keeping and bearing of arms in the context of
a. a well- regulated militia.
b. personal safety and protection.
c. a rebellion or invasion.
d. None of the above is true.
According to your text, approximately how many “cert petitions” come to the Supreme
Court each year?
a. 100
b. 1,000
c. 5,000
d. 10,000
Chisom v. Roemer (1991) involved a challenge to the system for electing judges to the
____________ supreme court.
a. Colorado
b. Alabama
c. Florida
d. Louisiana
Which of the following procedural devices designed to prevent most African Americans
from voting was the first to be declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme
Court?
a. White primary
b. Poll tax
c. Grandfather clause
d. Racial gerrymander
Justice Miller wrote in ___________ “It is as essential to the successful working of this
government that the great organisms of its executive and legislative branches should be
the free choice of the people, as that the original form of it should be so.”
a.Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886)
b. Ex Parte Yarbrough (1884)
c. United States v. Carotene Products (1938)
d. Guinn v. United States (1915)
In Ford v. Wainwright (1985), the Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment
prohibits the execution of a prisoner who is
a. legally insane.
b. mentally retarded.
c. under 16 years old.
d. None of the above is true.
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.
In 1981 Justice________ was replaced on the Court by Justice Sandra Day O”Connor.
a. Stewart
b. Burger
c. Powell
d. None of the above is true.
Justice________ authored the dissent in the Bush v. Gore (2000)?
a. Stevens
b. Rehnquist
c. Thomas
d. Breyer
In___________, the Supreme Court invalidated a warrant that was issued by the state’s
attorney general, a law enforcement officer, rather than by a judge or magistrate.
a.Stanford v. Texas (1965)
b. Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971)
c. Brinegar v. United States (1949)
d. Illinois v. Gates (1983)
The English philosopher _______ wrote that “there is a sphere of action in which
society, as distinguished from the individual, has, if any, only an indirect interest;
comprehending all that portion of a person’s life and conduct which affects only
himself, or if it also affects others, only with their free, voluntary and undeceived
consent and participation.”
a. Thomas Hobbes
b. John Locke
c. Jeremy Bentham
d. John Stuart Mill
In________________, the Supreme Court voted 5 to 3 to uphold a public school
principal’s decision to excise certain controversial material from the school newspaper.
a. Near v. Minnesota (1931)
b. New York Times Company v. United States (1971)
c. United States v. Progressive (1979)
d. Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)
In __________________, the Supreme Court invoked the political questions doctrine to
foreclose judicial relief in the area of malapportionment, at least from the federal bench.
a. Gray v. Sanders (1963)
b. Colegrove v. Green (1946)
c. Baker v. Carr (1962)
d. None of the above is true.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 employed a rough index of discrimination to apply the
scrutiny of the federal government to how many states that had historically been most
recalcitrant in refusing to allow African Americans to vote?
a. Four
b. Six
c. Nine
d. Fourteen
In Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) the Supreme Court struck down a state
requirement that a married woman seeking an abortion must
a. wait 24 hours after giving written consent before undergoing the procedure.
b. notify her spouse of her intentions.
c. undergo counseling.
d. obtain her spouse’s permission.
In ________________, the Supreme Court unanimously approved the use of
court-ordered busing to achieve the goal of desegregation.
a. Cooper v. Aaron (1958)
b. Alexander v. Holmes County (1969)
c. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971)
d. Milliken v. Bradley (1974)
In the wake of the Civil War, many of the Southern states had adopted the so-called
__________, which denied basic economic rights to former slaves.
a. Jim Crow Laws
b. Grandfather Clauses
c. Black Codes
d. None of the above is true.
Adhering to Justice John M. Harlan’s concurrence in ______________ (1967), the
Supreme Court has since held that the Fourth Amendment extends to any place or any
thing in which an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
a. Katz v. United States
b. Melton v. United States
c. United States v. Calandra
d. United States v. Davies
The Supreme Court has NOT said which of these accepted justifications for warrantless
searches are constitutionally valid.
a. Plain view
b. Hot pursuit
c. Emergency searches
d. None of the above is true.