The supreme court is a mix of one chief justice as well as eight associate judges who decide the final outcomes of court cases that have been appealed time and time again. Many court cases being brought to the supreme court have to do with criminal rights as well as guns and speech rights. Examples of cases that have drastically changed our society as a whole are Gideon v. Wainwright, McDonald v. Chicago and Citizens United v. FEC. The judicial branch has a very significant effect on many people who have gone through the supreme court process.
In 1963, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with breaking and entering. In court he requested a lawyer, however, he was turned down and sentenced to five years in prison. Gideon filed a habeas corpus petition in the Florida Supreme Court, declaring that the court's decision to deny him a lawyer violated his constitutional right to be represented. The court denied his corpus relief. Gideon’s case then went to the Supreme Court to push the right that an attorney must be appointed to every defendant who can not afford one on their own. The majority of justices in 1963 were liberal-leaning. Chief Justice Earl Warren voted in favor of Gideon’s concern. It was seen as unconstitutional to deny him a lawyer in court by the 6th amendment.
In 2010, the second amendment created a lot of controversy through the McDonald v Chicago court case. Otis Mcdonald filed a suit in U.S. District Court challenging a 1982 Chicago law that predominantly denied the registration of new handguns as well as enforced registration before purchasi\ng a firearm. Shortly after this suit was filed, many others hopped on board by filing lawsuits against the Chicago law banning firearms, one including a lawsuit from the NRA. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of McDonald stating that the right to bear arms applies to state and local governments. At the time the Supreme court was split. Some were liberal while others were conservative.
In 2010 the Supreme Court rules that it's unconstitutional to refrain any corporation from having a budget on how much money they can spend on influencing voters to side with them. This includes paying for ads or other types of political influences. Citizens United vs FEC was a case mostly related to the first amendment of freedom of speech. In 2008 Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit organization was planning to realize their documentary called “Hillary: The Movie” THe film had a strong effect on the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The film had planned on airing at the time the presidential election was in motion. However, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 denied the airing of the documentary “as a means of preventing corporations from ‘distorting’ the political process and to reduce corruption of the appearance of corruption” (Duignan 1). Citizens United requested an injunction in the District Court in Washington D.C, the court denied this request. The case then went to the Supreme Court and the judges ruled in favor of Citizens United. Their ruling allowed different restrictions on free speech-related spending. This allowed there to be restrictions on corporate restriction spending on electioneering communication. The Chief Justice at the time, John Roberts voted in favor of Citizens United. Justice Kennedy wrote the opinion however because of his detailed description of how the court should have expanded and gone further on this issue. The court was majorly conservative at the time. This debate is still being talked about today.
All three of these cases had major implications in America and our society. Gideon v Wainwright majorly impacted the 6th amendment by enforcing the idea that everyone deserves an attorney in court regardless of their income. This is still relevant today because this process has a lot of controversy behind it. The quality of public attorneys that are working pro bono does not have their main focus on a case they aren't being properly funded for. This makes for an unjust result in the court. Mcdonald v. Chicago majorly affected the Second Amendment (right to bear arms). This is clearly one of the most controversial issues the U.S. faces today. The amount of shootings in the past decade has been exceedingly high compared to any other county in the world. The registration of a handgun seems to be very accessible to anyone who wants one. This has caused riots throughout America. Citizens United v. FEC relates to the first amendment of freedom of speech. This case allowed corporations to fund money to one side during the time of an election. They were not refrained from donating any amount of money to a candidate's political party. In the most recent election, the number of political ads on tv was astounding. Many other very high-end corporations support the president today including, chick fil a and big lots. All these cases change how we live today and help our constitutional rights live on.
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