Skip to Main Content

Civic Literacy

Competency Four:

Understanding of landmark Supreme Court cases, landmark legislation, and landmark executive actions and their impact on law and society

Students should be able to recall, identify, and explain landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases, landmark legislation, and executive actions. They should also be able to explain their impact on law and society. Most landmark cases, legislation, and executive actions are drawn from Florida’s K-12 civics, U.S. government, and U.S. history course content.

Landmark cases that students should know, as identified primarily in the Florida K-12 civics, U.S. government, or U.S. history benchmarks, involve the expansion or restriction of civil rights and liberties, the power of the federal government (including the various and specific powers and authority of the different branches), and how the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted clauses of the U.S. Constitution. Be sure to consider the impact of selective incorporation (a principle students should know for Competency Two) within the context of federalism, as well as sources and types of law. Most cases will have appeared in the 7th grade civics, 9-12th grade U.S. government, or 8th grade and 9th-12th grade U.S. history course content. Click the hyperlinks below for Oyez summaries of each case.

 

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Schenck v. U.S. (1919)

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Brown v. Board (1954)

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

New York Times v. United States (1971)

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

Roe v. Wade (1973)

United States v. Nixon (1974)

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)

Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988)

Texas v. Johnson (1989)

Shaw v. Reno (1993)

U.S. v. Lopez (1995)

Bush v. Gore (2000)

District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)

McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

Landmark Legislation

Landmark legislation that students should be familiar with, as identified primarily in the Florida K-12 civics, U.S. government, or U.S. history course content, involves:

  1. conflicts and compromises (e.g., the Compromise of 1850; Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854);
  2. territorial expansion and the structure and function of government (e.g., Homestead Act of 1862; Pendleton Act of 1883);
  3. expansion or restrictions of civil rights and liberties (e.g., various civil rights acts between the 19th and 21st centuries; Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798; USA PATRIOT Act of 2001);
  4. expansions or restrictions in social programs (e.g., various Great Society-related acts; New Deal-related acts; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010);
  5. environmental protections (e.g., Clean Air Act of 1970);
  6. expansions of presidential and war powers (e.g., Tonkin Gulf Resolution of 1964).

Note that this overview does not include all legislation that could be assessed; rather, it covers the types of legislation that students might see on the FCLE. Most landmark legislation will have appeared in the 7th grade civics, 9th-12th grade U.S. government, or 8th grade and 9th-12th grade U.S. history course content.

Landmark Executive Actions

Landmark executive actions that students should be familiar with, as identified primarily in the Florida K-12 civics, U.S. government, or U.S. history course content, primarily involve:

  1. efforts at foreign policy (e.g., various treaties that ended wars, such as the Treaty of Paris of 1898);
  2. territorial expansion (e.g., treaties and agreements that expanded the United States, such as the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 or the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1821);
  3. restrictions or expansions of civil rights and liberties (e.g., suspensions of habeas corpus; Japanese-American internment; enforcement of civil rights-related Supreme Court decisions);
  4. the use of executive orders (e.g., military desegregation; affirmative action);
  5. the presidential “bully pulpit” (e.g., advocacy for various programs and reforms, particularly in the 20th and 21st centuries);
  6. presidential war powers.

Note that this overview does not include all executive actions that could be assessed; rather, it covers the types of executive actions that students might see on the FCLE. Most landmark executive actions will have appeared in the 7th grade civics, 9th-12th grade U.S. government, or 8th and 9th-12th grade U.S. history course content.