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)
In ___________________, the Supreme Court first suggested that evidence obtained in
violation of the Fourth Amendment should be excluded from trial.
a.Boyd v. United States (1886)
b. Carroll v. United States (1925)
c. Bram v. United States (1897)
d. Weems v. United States (1910)
Our legal traditions recognize government as parens patriae, meaning literally
a. “parent of the country.”
b. “in the place of the parents.”
c. “king of kings.”
d. “founding fathers.”
In Olmstead v. United States (1928), Chief Justice _________________ stated, “The
reasonable view is that one who installs in his house a telephone instrument with
connecting wires intends to project his voice to those quite outside, and that the wires
beyond his house, and messages passing over them, are not within the protection of the
Fourth Amendment.”
a. William Howard Taft
b. Harlan F. Stone
c. Charles Evans Hughes
d. None of the above is true.
In Brown v. Board of Education (1955), the Supreme Court ordered desegregation of
the Nation’s public schools
a. “at once.”
b. “with all deliberate speed.”
c. “as soon as possible.”
d. “with due dispatch.”
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
In__________, the Supreme Court recognized that voting is “a fundamental political
right, because [it is] preservative of all rights.”
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 Davis v. Bandemer (1986), the plurality opinion indicated that plaintiffs challenging
partisan gerrymandering of state legislatures would have to make a “threshold showing
of _____.”
a. intentional discrimination
b. discriminatory vote dilution
c. invidious discrimination
d. None of the above is true.
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
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)
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
Before Brown v. Board of Education was reargued in 1953, Chief Justice __________
died and was replaced by Earl Warren.
a. William Howard Taft
b. Charles Evans Hughes
c. Harlan F. Stone
d. Fred M. Vinson
The Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Federal Constitution
a. sets the minimum voting age at eighteen in federal and state elections.
b. abolishes the poll tax in federal elections.
c. removes gender as a qualification for voting.
d. provides for the popular election of U.S. Senators.
In ______________, the Supreme Court upheld a village ordinance that limited
residential land use to one-family dwellings.
a. Moore v. City of East Cleveland (1977)
b. Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972)
c. Belle Terre v. Boraas (1974)
d. none of the above
Roe v. Wade (1973) came to the Supreme Court on review from which state?
a. Alabama
b. California
c. Texas
d. Tennessee
According to Stephens and Scheb, the most significant abortion case of the 1980s was
a. Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989).
b. Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health (1983).
c. Bowers v. Hardwick (1986).
d. In re Guardianship of Barry (1983).
In Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905), Justice ___________ majority opinion did
recognize that “[t]here is, of course, a sphere within which the individual may assert the
supremacy of his own will and rightfully dispute the authority of any human
government, especially of any free government existing under a written constitution, to
interfere with the exercise of that will.”
a. John M. Harlan’s
b. Henry Billings Brown’s
c. Edward D. White’s
d. None of the above is true.
In Robinson v. California (1962), the Supreme Court held that state courts were bound
by the Eighth Amendment prohibition against
a. cruel and unusual punishments.
b. excessive bail.
c. excessive fines.
d. compulsory self-incrimination.
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
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.
Which justice wrote the opinion for the Court in Kahn v. Shevin (1974)?
a. Brenna
b. Douglas
c. Stewart
d. White
In adopting the Civil Rights Act of _____, Congress attempted to eradicate racial
discrimination in “places of public accommodation,” including hotels, taverns,
restaurants, theaters, and “public conveyances.”
a. 1866
b. 1870
c. 1871
d. 1875
Historically, the ________ Clause was an important source of litigation in the federal
courts. In modern times, it is seldom interpreted to impose significant limits on the
states in the field of economic regulation.
a. Commerce
b. Full Faith and Credit
c. Contracts
d. Ninth Amendment
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
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
InHarper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966), the Supreme Court invalidated the use
of _________ in state elections.
a. literacy tests
b. poll taxes
c. residency requirements
d. None of the above is true.
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
In____________, the Supreme Court upheld the controversial police practice of
boarding interstate buses in big-city terminals, approaching persons matching a drug
courier profile,and asking them for permission to search their belongings.
a. United States v. Matlock (1974)
b. Florida v. Bostick (1991)
c. Ohio v. Robinette (1996)
d. Georgia v. Randolph (2006)
Which Justice wrote the Court’s opinion in Walz v. Tax Commission (1970)?
a. Warren E. Burger
b. William O. Douglas
c. John Paul Stevens
d. Hugo Black
In 1988 Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the Court after the retirement of Justice
_____.
a. Stewart
b. Burger
c. Powell
d. None of the above is true.
The Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-Fourth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments focus on the
____________, which is arguably the most essential right in a democracy.
a. right to run for elected office
b. right to trial by jury
c. right to vote
d. right to bear arms
In__________, the Supreme Court held that only Congress can suspend the writ of
habeas corpus.
a.Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)
b. Torcaso v. Watkins (1961)
c.McDaniel v. Paty (1978)
d. Ex Parte Milligan (1866)
In the wake of the Civil War, many of the southern states had adopted the Black
Codes,which denied basic economic rights to former slaves including the right to
a. inherit property.
b. own property.
c. convey property.
d. All the above are true.
While the Schiavo case did not develop any new legal principles or procedures, it did
reaffirm the __________ in a highly public and highly politicized context.
a. right to die
b. right to birth control
c. right to same sex marriage
d. None of the above is true.