SCOTUS Landmark Cases-The First Amendment and Government Power
For more than 2 centuries, the Supreme Court of the United States has made decisions that have shaped the legal framework of this country. The Court has served as an end all and be all to legal cases across the United States. In the Cases McCulloch v. Maryland, NY Times CO v. US, and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission we see conflicts between either State Governments and the Federal Government, or the power of the First Amendment.
McCulloch v. Maryland was a major case in the Supreme Court because it shaped the legislative powers of the Federal Government. In 1816, Congress passed legislation enacting the Second Bank of the United States. There was a lot of controversy over the Bank because states didn’t like the power that the Federal Government had in controlling finances. Maryland in particular passed legislation in which any bank not sponsored by the State had to pay a $15,000 annual tax. James McCulloch, who was the head of the Baltimore Branch for the National Bank, ignored the law and didn’t pay the tax. This lead to a lawsuit that pitted the State of Maryland against James McCulloch. The Maryland Court of Appeals said that the Second Bank was unconstitutional because the Constitution never explicitly said that the Federal Government could sponsor a bank. The final decision was appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had a much different take on the issue. The Court ruled unanimously in favor of McCulloch. In Chief Justice John Roberts’ explanation, he stated that the Second Bank of the United States had a right to be legislated by Congress because historically the United States had already used a National Bank. He also argued that the United States Government had implied powers under the Necessary and Proper Clause in Article I of the Constitution. Therefore, Maryland had no right to tax the Federal Bank. The Court at the time was Federalist because the Justices gave the most power to the Federal Government.
The New York Times Company vs. United States was a monumental case because it decided how much power US press have. By 1971, the United States had been at war with Vietnam for 6 years. Many Americans were not happy with the Vietnam War as protests all across the country broke out. President Nixon’s Administration was aware of the protests but stayed in the war. But when the New York Times obtained the Pentagon Papers from the Federal Government, the Administration did everything they could to keep the Papers under raps. The Pentagon Papers were top secret documents of American military activity in Vietnam from 1945-1967. So when the New York Times published 3 articles talking about the information inside the Pentagon Papers, the Department of Justice got a restraining order which prevented further publication of the top secret information, claiming that it was “detrimental to US national security” (History). The New York Times and Washington Post collaborated to fight for their rights to publish more information. On June 18, 1971, the Washington Post released more information regarding the Pentagon Papers. The Post was told by the Government to remove the publication, but they refused. This led to the Government taking them to court in the District Court of the District of Columbia and the Court of Appeals for the DC Circut, but both courts rejected their request, leading to a case in the Supreme Court. After the Court heard the cases made by the Government and the New York Times Company, they ruled that the New York Times and the Washington Post had a right to publish information by a vote of 6-3. The Court argued that the Administration violated the First Amendment, with Justices Black and Douglas saying that “the word ‘security,’ should not be used ‘to abrogate the fundamental law embodied in the First Amendment." However, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger argued in favor of the Government. Overall, this court is a liberal court because it shared political views with liberals at the time. People who were against the Nixon Administration wanted to see the information in order to put more pressure on the Administration to leave Vietnam. This case has to do with the First Amendment because it deals with Freedom of the Press, and in this case, the freedom to release information in the Pentagon Papers.
In 2008, a Conservative non-profit named Citizens United released a movie criticizing Democratic Candidate for President Hillary Clinton. Right away, the Federal Election Commission took issue with this because Citizens United broke a 2002 campaign law. “(The movie) violated the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, which prohibited any corporation or labor union from making an ‘electioneering communication’ within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of an election, or making any expenditure advocating the election or defeat of a candidate at any time.” (Wikipedia) Citizens United filed a complaint in the US District Court for the District of Columbia in which they challenged the constitutionality of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act and other electioneering communication laws. The District of Columbia denied the complaint, saying that the Supreme Court already decided on what Citizens United complained about in McConnell v. FEC. However, The Supreme Court took up the case and ruled in favor of Citizens United by a narrow 5-4 vote. The Court ruled that under the First Amendment no person or corporation should be limited at all. Chief Justice Roberts, who ruled in favor of Citizens United, claimed that the Supreme Court should not look past Constitutional rights. In this case, that right was freedom of speech. Therefore, Citizens United had a right to release the movie when they did. The Court that ruled had a Conservative majority. All of the judges who ruled in favor of Citizens United were appointed by Republican presidents.
With these 3 SCOTUS cases, the Supreme Court had to make decisions that shaped the balance of power in the US. In the case of McCulloch v Maryland, the Supreme Court had to decide on the power of the Federal Government in relation to State Governments. Their interpretation of the Constitution led to a decision that gave the Federal Government more power than the State Governments when it comes to taxes. With the cases of New York Times Company v. United States and Citizens United v. FEC, the Court ruled on the power of the First Amendment. In both cases, the Court ruled in favor of the people, whether it was the New York Times/Washington Post or Citizens United. But in all 3 cases, the Supreme Court played a massive role in determining the legal direction of the United States.
Work Cited
https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/pentagon-papers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2008/08-205
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