Supreme Court Cases
SPRITE
Alyssa & Jerrica
Background
Roe VS Wade
Wabash VS Illinois
School District of Abington VS Schempp
Roe VS Wade
-Roe: a pregnant single woman, who was wishing for an abortion in the state of Texas
*Argument: Under the Bill of Rights, a woman has the right to terminate her pregnancy. It is improper for a state to deny individuals their personal marital and sexual right to privacy. Never before has the court declared a fetus as a person. The fetus cannot gain its "right to life." The Texas law is unconstitutional and should be overturned.
Defendant:
-County District Attorney Wade:
*Argument: The state of Texas has a duty to protect prenatal life. Life starts at the moment of conception. The unborn, which includes a fetus, are people and are entitled to protection under the Constitution. The Texas law is simply protecting the health and safety of its citizens. The law is constitutional and should be upheld.
Ruling of the Case:
The Court agreed with Roe and upheld her right to terminate a pregnancy during its first trimester(90 days). Justice Blackman reviewed the Fourteenth Amendment, which contained three references to "person." Blackman noted that the "use of the word is such that it has application only postnatally. None indicates that it has any possible prenatal application." The Supreme Court suggested that the right to privacy is part of the Constitution; under certain circumstances, a woman has the right to have an abortion.
SPRITE:
Social- The ruling affected the right of woman and the way society viewed them.
Political - This case is continuously trialed every few years in attempt to overturn the ruling.
Economic- Due to the outcome of the case, new medical fields had to be funded in order to take proper prenatal precautions.
Wabash VS Illinois
Plaintiff: The State of Illinois
*If any railroad shall charge or receive monies for transporting passengers under its own rates shall be liable for penalty for unjust discrimination.
*Railroad companies should be allowed to regulate trade on their own without the help of the State no matter the distance or the class of its passengers
Ruling of the Case:
The State of Illinois has to abide by the federal laws and cannot make up their own laws about railroad rates. They have no authority to regulate railroad rates for interstate commerce. This in turn established rate regulation of interstate commerce as an exclusive federal power.
SPRITE:
Social- The railroad rate regulation of the federal government made it fair among all classes of the society with a set rate for any class and any distance of travel.
Intellectual- Due to the ruling of this case, the federal government had to draw up yet another contract with all of the regulated rates.
Economic- The balanced rates stabilized the economy.
School District of Abington VS Schempp
*They didn't want anyone but a priest reading the Bible to their children and objected their kids release from class due to the reading from the teacher.
Defendant: School District of Abington
*Pennsylvania has a law stating that ten verses must be read daily before school to the classroom. Anyone that didn't want to listen did NOT have to- they could leave the class.
Ruling of the Case:
A clause was established that states could not enforce religious teachings, such as reading the Bible.
SPRITE:
Social- It was a fair sentence and allowed all religions to participate in school instead of being singled out.
Religious- The whole case was based off of religion and drew up a fair conclusion which allowed Free Exercise of Religion.
Intellectual- The Bible was a book that was read in school which forced students to believe or think about Christianity.