Overview of the 2006 Supreme Court Term

The Supreme Court's 2006 Term concluded on June 28, 2007, with decisions in the school segregation cases, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education.

FREE SPEECH - Morse v. Frederick
The Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 ruling holding that Alaska public school officials did not violate Joseph Frederick's free speech rights by punishing him for displaying a banner during a public event in 2002.
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RELIGIOUS FREEDOM - Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation
The Court ruled that taxpayers do not have standing to challenge government expenditures that violate the Establishment Clause.
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REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM - Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America
The Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to women's health, reproductive rights, and equality. In a 5-4 decision that put politics before women's health, the Court upheld the first-ever federal ban on abortion methods and undermined a core principle of Roe v. Wade – that women's health must remain paramount.
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RACIAL EQUALITY - Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education
The Court rejected voluntary integration plans in Seattle, Washington, and Louisville, Kentucky, that were designed to address racial segregation in the schools by allowing consideration of a student's race in making school assignments. The decision did not, however, signal the end of voluntary integration plans across the country.
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> ACLU Summary of the 2006 Supreme Court Term
> 2006 Term Preview: Abortion and Education Highlight New Supreme Court Docket; National Security Cases Wait in the Wings

Supreme Court Cases

Reproductive Freedom

Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Gonzales v. Carhart (Decided)

2/2/2009 - Challenge to a federal abortion ban, adopted in 2003, that lacks an exception to preserve a woman's health and is so broadly written that it would prohibit abortions performed as early as 13 weeks into the pregnancy. DECIDED

Racial Equality

Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education (Decided)

2/1/2008 - The Court rejected the constitutionality of school district plans in Seattle and Louisville that used race as a factor in student assignment in an effort to address racial segregation in K-12 schools. DECIDED

Free Speech

Morse v. Frederick (Decided)

6/25/2007 - Whether school officials violated the First Amendment when they suspended a high school student for holding up a sign that the principal interpreted as a pro-drug message when the sign caused no disruption, was displayed at a public event on the public streets, and the student had not yet arrived at school for the day. DECIDED

Search and Seizure

Brendlin v. California (Decided)

6/18/2007 - Reviewing whether a car's passenger can challenge an illegal traffic stop under the Fourth Amendment. DECIDED

Death Penalty

Uttecht v. Brown (Decided)

4/17/2007 - Reviewing whether the state courts improperly excluded a prospective juror in a death penalty case after he indicated that future dangerousness was a relevant consideration but that he would, in any event, follow the law as instructed by the judge. DECIDED

Attorneys' Fees

Sole v. Wyner (Decided)

4/2/2007 - Whether plaintiffs are entitled to attorneys' fees for obtaining a preliminary injunction that allowed them to go forward with a planned demonstration based, in significant part, on the discriminatory application of permit regulations that were later upheld as facially valid. DECIDED

Womens' Rights

Long Island Care at Home v. Coke (Decided)

3/30/2007 - Whether the federal Labor Department has misinterpreted the Fair Labor Standards Act by relieving commercial enterprises of any obligation to provide the minimum wage and overtime to home health care workers, who are disproportionately female and minority. DECIDED

Free Speech

Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life (Decided)

3/22/2007 - Considering how groups, like the ACLU, can establish a First Amendment right to broadcast "genuine" issue ads in the period preceding an election despite a federal law ban on any broadcast ad that names a candidate for office regardless of the ads purpose or effect. DECIDED

Religious Freedom

Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation (Decided)

2/28/2007 - Reviewing a challenge to a Supreme Court ruling that, for forty years, has allowed taxpayers to seek a federal court injunction against government expenditures in violation of the Establishment Clause. DECIDED

Prisoners' Rights

Jones v. Bock and Williams v. Overton (Decided)

1/22/2007 - Challenge to a set of judicially-created rules that seriously impair a prisoner's ability to bring grievances to federal court. DECIDED

Scott v. Harris (Decided)

1/17/2007 - Reviewing whether, and under what circumstances, a law enforcement may claim qualified immunity from damages after ramming the plaintiff's car during a high speed chase that left the plaintiff severely crippled. DECIDED

Criminal Justice

Claiborne v. United States

12/18/2006 - Whether federal district court judges have discretion, in appropriate cases, to impose shorter prison terms than the Sentencing Guidelines suggest based, in part, on the unduly harsh consequences of rigidly applying the crack/cocaine disparity. DISMISSED

Womens' Rights

Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (Decided)

9/19/2006 - Reviewing whether a Title VII plaintiff can challenge the ongoing effects of discriminatory pay decisions that occurred prior to the statutory limitations period. DECIDED

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