High Profile Legal Cases

Some cases are high profile because they set a precedent that future laws will be based on. Some cases are high profile because they appeal to our need for drama and celebrities. Some cases are high profile because they appallingly demonstrate just how far injustice can be perpetuated by the legal system.

	ACLU and Abortion Rights
	In a letter to Thornburgh signed by ACLU President Norman Dorsen and Executive Director Ira Glasser, the ACLU asked the Justice Department to consider the voices of the American majority who oppose the federal government's efforts to rescind the constitutional right recognized in the l973 Roe v. Wade decision and upheld several times since.
	Amateur Action BBS Bust	by Keith Henson
	Amateur Action (San Jose) BBS bust by a postal inspector.
	Another Law Enforcment Bungle- News Item
	Appeals Court Orders Reinstatement of Gay Soldier	by ACLU
	The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered the reinstatement of Sgt. Perry Watkins, an openly gay soldier with an examplary service record, in a case brought by the ACLU nine years ago to challenge the military's policy of excluding gay and lesbian persons.
	Boyfriends and Husbands Use Courts to Block Women's Abortions	by Dawn Johnsen and Lynn Paltrow
	During the last several months, the anti-abortion forces have implemented a new strategy in their systematic campaign to deprive women of their reproductive freedom. In cases in Indiana, Utah, and Pennsylvania, individual men, represented by anti-choice lawyers, have sought and obtained temporary restraining orders ("TROs") from state courts enjoining women from exercising their right to choose to have an abortion. Three cases were recently brought by men who claimed to be the women's "boyfriends" and two were brought by the women's husbands.
	Brown v. Board of Education	by The Supreme Court
	Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment -- even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors of white and Negro schools may be equal.
	Bush v. Gore	by The Supreme Court
	By halting the manual recount, and thus ensuring that the uncounted legal votes will not be counted under any standard, this Court crafts a remedy out of proportion to the asserted harm. And that remedy harms the very fairness interests the Court is attempting to protect. The manual recount would itself redress a problem of unequal treatment of ballots.
	Complaint to a Sheriff about a No-Knock Entry	by Harry Sweeney
	When Cops Enter Your Home Without Knocking, Without Warrant, Without Probable Cause.
	Dred Scott v. Sandford	by The Supreme Court
	In 1856, the Supreme Court handed down its infamous decision in Scott v. Sandford. Dred Scott, a slave, sued in federal court for his and his family's freedom. Scott contended that his family became free when they were taken into the free portion of the Louisiana territory where Congress had prohibited slavery. The Supreme Court dismissed the suit on jurisdictional grounds. Chief Justice Taney explained that the parties were not citizens of different states because the Constitution did not consider blacks to be citizens.
	Ex Parte Merryman	by Justice Taney
	Among the 13,000 people arrested under martial law during the civil war was a Maryland Secessionist, John Merryman. Immediately, Hon. Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States issued a writ of habeas corpus commanding the military to bring Merryman before him. The military refused to follow the writ. Justice Taney, in Ex parte MERRYMAN, then ruled the suspension of habeas corpus unconstitutional because the writ could not be suspended without an Act of Congress. President Lincoln and the military ignored Justice Taney's ruling.
	Ex Parte Milligan	by Justice Davis
	Lambden P. Milligan had been sentenced to death by an army court in Indiana for allegedly disloyal activities. Lincoln delayed his execution, but after Lincoln's assassination, the new president, Andrew Johnson, approved the sentence. The Court decided that military rule could not supersede the civil courts in areas where the civil courts and government remained open and operational.
	Ex parte McCardle	by The Supreme Court
	The act of 27th March, 1868, repealing that provision of the act of 5th of February, 1867, to amend the Judicial Act of 1789, which authorized appeals to this court from the decisions of the Circuit Courts in cases of habeas corpus, does not except from the appellate jurisdiction of this court any cases but appeals under the act of 1867. It does not affect the appellate jurisdiction which was previously exercised in cases of habeas corpus.
	Fahrenheit 451.2: Is Cyberspace Burning?	by ACLU
	How rating and blocking proposals may torch free speech on the Internet.
	Gay Couple is a Family	by ACLU
	New York's highest court rules that gay couple is a family.
	Last Will and Testament of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis	by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
	I, JACQUELINE K. ONASSIS, of the City, County and State of New York, do make, publish and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all wills and codicils at any time heretofore made by me...
	Marbury v. Madison	by The Supreme Court
	Although that clause of the constitution which requires the president to commission all the officers of the United States, may never have been applied to officers appointed otherwise than by himself, yet it would be difficult to deny the legislative power to apply it to such cases.
	Miranda v. Arizona	by The Supreme Court
	The prosecution may not use statements, whether exculpatory or inculpatory, stemming from questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way, unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination.
	Removing the "Dis" from Disabled	by Gordon Gibson
	Attempts by college to accomodate disabled people.
	Representing Satan in Arkansas
	A lawyer representing Satan has filed a motion in federal court to have his client dismissed as a defendant in Arkansas' celebrated Halloween case.
	Roe vs. Wade Decision	by Mr. Justice Blackmun
	A pregnant single woman (Roe) brought a class action challenging the constitutionality of the Texas criminal abortion laws, which proscribe procuring or attempting an abortion except on medical advice for the purpose of saving the mother's life.
	Should Conservatives Give Up on the Supreme Court?
	In the wake of the Supreme Court's June 29 decision in which a plurality of two justices appointed by Ronald Reagan and a third named by George bush went out of their way t reaffirm the court's 1973 invention in Roe v. Wade of a purported constitutional right to have abortions, stunned conservatives were asking themselves what more, if anything, can be done to bring a halt to the arbitrary - and blatantly unconstitutional - usurpation of power by judges in this country.
	Smoking Seen as Child Abuse
	Is parental smoking child abuse? It certainly seems to be lawyer bait!
	Stanley Hilton Lawsuit	by Stanley Hilton
	Stanley G. Hilton has filed a class action lawsuit in Federal court in Northern California against against high officials in the current Bush administration (including the federal government, Bush, Cheney, Rice, Mueller, Tenet, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft), for complicity in aiding and abetting and facilitating the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks.
	Steve Jackson Games vs. The U.S. Secret Service
	Complete text of Steve Jackson Games' suit against the U.S. Secret Service.
	The "Z" Report	by slasher_13
	The elusive and infamous serial killer known only as The Zodiac Killer.
	The ACLU and the Supreme Court's Webster Decision	by ACLU
	The Supreme Court's ruling in the Webster decision sent an open invitation to anti-choice forces throughout this country to do away with the right to a safe and legal abortion. Five Justices of the Court gave every indication that they are ready to return this country to the days when women suffered and died at the hands of illegal abortionists. As Justice Blackmun states in his eloquent dissent, "This decision has given all of us reason to fear for the future, for the liberty, and for the equality of millions of American women who have lived and come of age in the l6 years since abortion has been legal."
	The Family's Murders, Initial Police Report	by the_fonz
	The initial police report on the murders commited by Charles Manson's cult.
	The Final Outcome of the Knight Lightning Case	by Evan Schuman
	Government Concedes 'Doom' Case - from Unix Today!, August 20,1990 by Evan Schuman.
	The Last Interview with Ted Bundy	by Ted Bundy and James Dobson
	Ted Bundy, an infamous serial killer, granted an interview to psychologist James Dobson just before he was executed on January 24, 1989. In that interview, he described the agony of his addiction to pornography. Bundy goes back to his roots, explaining the development of his compulsive behavior. He reveals his addiction to hard-core pornography and how it fueled the terrible crimes he committed.
	The Legal Basis For Wicca
	The following are four court rulings regarding the legal legitimacy of the Wiccan religion and other cases that support religious freedom.
	The questionnaire used for selection of jury membe
	U.S. vs. Riggs	by Jay Wood
	Jacking into the net with the Illinois District Court.
	USA v. RaiseTheFist.com	by John Pi, FBI Special Agent
	A copy of the text of the FBI's search warrant issued against RaiseTheFist.com.
	United States v. Nixon	by The Supreme Court
	The District Court issued a subpoena to the president requiring him to produce certain tapes and documents relating to precisely identified meetings between the president and others. Although President Nixon released edited transcripts of some of the subpoenaed conversations, his counsel filed a "special appearance" and moved to quash the subpoena on the grounds of executive privilege. When the District Court denied the motion, the president appealed and the case was quickly brought to the Supreme Court.
	United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez	by The Supreme Court
	The Fourth Amendment does not apply to the search and seizure by United States agents of property owned by a nonresident alien and located in a foreign country.