The 15 Required Cases
One FRQ on your exam compares a case you've never seen with one of these. Know the constitutional question and the holding cold.
Marbury v. Madison
Article III — the scope of judicial power
Established judicial review: federal courts can strike down acts of Congress that conflict with the Constitution.
McCulloch v. Maryland
Necessary and Proper Clause; Supremacy Clause
Congress has implied powers beyond those enumerated, and states cannot tax (or otherwise impede) legitimate federal institutions.
Schenck v. United States
First Amendment — speech in wartime
Speech creating a 'clear and present danger' is not protected; free speech is not absolute.
Brown v. Board of Education
Fourteenth Amendment — Equal Protection Clause
Race-based school segregation is unconstitutional: separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, overturning Plessy.
Baker v. Carr
Fourteenth Amendment; justiciability of apportionment
Redistricting is a justiciable question — opening the door to 'one person, one vote.'
Engel v. Vitale
First Amendment — Establishment Clause
State-sponsored prayer in public schools is unconstitutional, even if nondenominational and voluntary.
Gideon v. Wainwright
Sixth Amendment — right to counsel, incorporated via the Fourteenth
States must provide attorneys to criminal defendants who cannot afford one.
Tinker v. Des Moines
First Amendment — student symbolic speech
Students don't 'shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate'; symbolic protest is protected absent substantial disruption.
New York Times Co. v. United States
First Amendment — prior restraint (Pentagon Papers)
The government carries a heavy burden to justify prior restraint of the press — and failed to meet it.
Wisconsin v. Yoder
First Amendment — Free Exercise Clause
Compelling Amish children to attend school past eighth grade violates free exercise of religion.
Roe v. Wade
Fourteenth Amendment — due process and privacy
Recognized a constitutional right to abortion (overruled by Dobbs in 2022 — the CED still requires Roe, and the overruling itself is now exam-relevant).
Shaw v. Reno
Fourteenth Amendment — Equal Protection in districting
Racial gerrymandering is subject to strict scrutiny; bizarrely shaped majority-minority districts drawn predominantly by race can be challenged.
United States v. Lopez
Article I — the limits of the Commerce Clause
First case in 60 years to strike a federal law as exceeding the commerce power — gun possession near schools is not economic activity.
McDonald v. Chicago
Second Amendment, incorporated via the Fourteenth
The individual right to keep and bear arms applies against state and local governments.
Citizens United v. FEC
First Amendment — political spending as speech
Government cannot restrict independent political expenditures by corporations and unions; spending caps on independent expenditures violate free speech.
Case list per the College Board CED. Unit assignments follow the CED's course framework — each case anchors to its primary unit.