I'm researching Civil Rights laws and cases in US History. What are the most famous (or lesser known) cases that significantly impacted American history in the United States. Please list dates (apx years) if known. Thanks!
2007-01-31 14:40:03 · 3 answers · asked by little-miss-know-it-all 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Roe v. Wade
The 1973 case of Roe v. Wade resulted in a landmark judicial opinion regarding privacy and abortion in the United States.[1] According to the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe decision, most laws against abortion violated a constitutional right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision overturned all state and federal laws outlawing or restricting abortion that were inconsistent with its holdings. Roe is one of the most controversial and politically significant cases in U.S. Supreme Court history, and its lesser-known companion case was decided at the same time in 1973: Doe v. Bolton.[2]
The central holding of Roe v. Wade was that abortions are permissible for any reason a woman chooses, up until the "point at which the fetus becomes ‘viable,’ that is, potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid. Viability is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks."[1] The decision prompted national debate that continues to this day over whether a state can choose to deem the act of terminating a pregnancy illegal, the role of the Supreme Court in constitutional adjudication, and the role of religious and moral views in the political sphere. Roe v. Wade reshaped national politics, dividing much of the nation into "pro-choice" and "pro-life" camps, and inspiring grassroots activism on both sides.
Critics describe Roe as illegitimate for straying from the text and history of the Constitution, and for imposing abortion policy on the states and Congress contrarily to American principles of federalism and democracy. Some critics of Roe also believe in the personhood of fetal human life, either beginning at conception or later. Supporters describe Roe as vital to preservation of women's equality, personal freedom, privacy, and the primacy of individual rights, although the opposition to Roe often references the primacy of the individual when referring to the fetus.
2007-01-31 14:42:23 · answer #1 · answered by Entrepreneur 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Brown vs Board of Education, in Kansas I think in 1954.
2007-01-31 14:45:58 · answer #2 · answered by Beachman 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Brown vs. Board of Education (1954 I believe).
2007-01-31 14:43:57 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋