Constitutional Rights: Supreme Court Cases

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Constitutional Rights Jerry Morgan University of Phoenix Abstract The word “freedom” may mean different things to different people, but to the framers of the Constitution it meant the end of tyranny. In this essay I will review cases histories of rulings that were handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court that set court precedents for Constitutional rights of the people. These rulings will define our past and the direction this country is taking for the future in the ongoing battle to understand what the framers of the Constitution meant when it described our freedoms. I will close with my own opinions of case law and interpretations of Constitutional…show more content…
v. Falwell. This case also became known as “The People vs. Larry Flint”. The Reverend Jerry Falwell brought a suit against Hustler Magazine and it’s owner Larry Flint for publishing an ad that depicted him as “having his first time, in an outhouse with his mother”(Bloomberg Law, n.d.). His basis was invasion of privacy, libel, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. After being heard by the Fourth Circuit Court, the case was decided in favor of Reverend Falwell. But Flint and his attorney petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and they granted the request. In hearing the facts of the case, the Supreme Court overturned the Lower Court’s ruling stating, “The Court found that to uphold the judgment of the lower courts would affect all political satire. Public officials and public figures were held unable to recover in emotional distress, when they could not prove that the publication was made knowingly, with actual malice”(Cornell Law, n.d.). A similar case in 1964, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, states Sullivan was a public figure that assumed he was the subject of an ad in the New York Times newspaper stating that terror would befall those who were involved in the Civil Rights movements of the south. Although the newspaper never named any specific people in the ad, Sullivan believed they were talking about him, so he brought a defamation suit against the newspaper. This case set the precedent for the…show more content…
Wade (No. 70-18) 314 F.Supp. 1217 affirmed in part and reversed in part. Retrieved from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0410_0113_ZS.html Hustler Magazine Inc. v. Falwell (No. 86-1278) 485 U.S. 46 Retrieved from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0485_0046_ZS.html New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (No. 39) 376 U.S. 254 Retrieved from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0376_0254_ZS.html Stanley v. Georgia (No. 293) 394 U.S. 557 Retrieved from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0394_0557_ZS.html Miller v. California (No. 70-73), 413 U.S. 15 Retrieved from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0413_0015_ZS.html New York v. Ferber (No. 81-55) 52 N.Y.2d 674, 422 N.E.2d 523, reversed and remanded. Retrieved from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0458_0747_ZS.html Osborne v. Ohio (No. 88-5986) 37 Ohio St.3d 249, 525 N.E.2d 1363, reversed and remanded. Retrieved from:

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