The Road to a better Society

Danina Hughes

The Road to a better Society 

When analyzing each case, there was a similar pattern they had all have in common. This pattern I found was how each case extended the meaning of an amendment, from the common dictionary definition we all know it by. Roe V. Wade, Brown V. BOE, and Citizen United V. FEC, each has a unique perspective of the meaning of an amendment. Evidently, during this evaluation of my three cases, will not only compared the effect of each case but how it has drastically affected people in the world today.

The case Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), is one that not only played a major role in history but also the society that we are living in today. Yet, many may confuse this case on be purely based on whether abortions should be allowed. However, this case was for women to gain a sense of privacy with their bodies, without having to tell people like their husbands or the government. Additionally, this came about was when ‘Roe’ and her lawyers Coffee and Weddington argued to the District Court of the Northern District of Texas, that regulating abortion only to women whose lives are in danger was unconditional. On top of that, it goes against ‘Roe’s’ rights as a U.S citizen to not have the right to pick and chose if she would like to have an abortion. When their case got appealed to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice, Warren E. Burger played the role of voting with the majority creating a 7-2 ratio, thus making the government regulating abortions, unconstitutional. The court made a liberal choice when they were voting on behalf of the case, however, the court was in the middle of a conservative and liberal court. Concerning the impact of this case within society, ongoing debate upon the legalization of abortions, which can be seen from our current president and varies protests that have occurred within the years. Some may argue whether the 14th and 9th amendment should be applied to this case, and the simple answer is yes. This is due to the phrase, “right to privacy”, which goes deeper than the self-explanatory meaning. The right to privacy is a vast right that can cover many things, which in this case is getting unregulated abortions/medical procedures done. Even the 14th amendment can be stretched and cover a variety of rights, such as privacy, the right to do as one please, etc. In the end, this controversial case is just one out of a vast group of cases, for example, the Citizen United V. FEC case.

On the other hand, the case Citizen United v. F.E.C 558 US (2010) is one that has tremendous benefits for corporations and not so much for the people. This case first made its big appearances in 2009 when a movie was released upon Hilary Clinton by a non-profit group, Citizen United (aka C.U). When C.U was told that their movie could not air on TV's, they went to court the District Court for the District of Columbia, to argue the rights of corporations/unions during election during the election season. After ongoing debates, on January 21, 2010, this case was appealed to the Supreme Court ruled by the chief justice as unconstitutional; in the sense that corporations and unions freedom of speech & 1st amendment was being violated. This case ended up with a 5–4, as Chief Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, played the role as the tiebreaker. Thus granting corporations and unions the right to spend unlimited money for any candidate who they please, as well as, post any type of films, ads, etc during any election season. This case gave corporations an abundant amount of power over what the people see during election season as well. However, many have questioned how the 1st amendment even applied to this case, due to corporation technically not being identified as “ citizens”.  Although, some may argue that within the 1st amendment, it doesn’t state who specifically parts of the amendment apply to. On top of that, “its text offers no foothold for excluding any category of the speaker”, which somewhat gives the same rights that citizens have, to corporations. This by itself isn’t quite equal due to the amount of power and control over the people, a corporation has by itself. In the end, this was a conservative decision, due to the fact of who this case is going to benefit. For instance, compared to the people and the corporation; corporations are going to benefit from this case, as they can pick and choose who they want to invest money, to get what they want. 

Looking back to the mid-20th century and how our public schooling differs from what student experience within this day-in-age, shows how beneficial the case Brown V. Board was. The case Brown v. BOE 347 US 483 (1954), was one that redefined the meaning of equal opportunities within schools. This case was a stepping stone from un-segregation schools so the idea of “separate but equal”, wouldn’t play a role in deciding where a student could receive their education. This case was first heard by the U.S district court in Kansas, under the circumstances that Brown’s daughter, Linda’s 14th amendment was being violated. Linda wasn’t allowed to enroll in the all-white school, closer to her home, due to her skin color. Thus, the case was brought to the courts for the prohibition of the idea of “ separate but equal” within schools. This case did not reach a final decision, until 1954, which was two years after the case was appointed by the Supreme court. After two years, 3 other classes followed; thus then combined into the Brown V. BOE case, due to the similar arguments within the cases. In 1954, segregation within schools was listed unconstitutional, and anonymous ruling that came out as a 9-0 ratio was made. Chief Justice Vinson was apart of the case during the year of 1952. He plays a major role in allowing segregation within schools to still exist, as well as the other Chief Justices. However, when the case was revisited, Chief Justice Warren set in and play the role of voting to end segregation within schools. Based on the Chief Justice during the year of 1954, it was evident that this was a liberal decision, due to Chief Justice Warren history in the Supreme court.

Even though cases like Roe v. Wade, Brown v. Board, or Citizen United v. FEC, happened during the mid-20th century to the early 21st century, these are still problems we face as of today. However, to truly understand how these case have impacted our society, only shows how far many have come to gain equal rights, privacy from the government, etc. Not only that but how life differs for many without the rights numerous have today, compared to within the 20th century.  Thus, what we can do as a society is just push through obstacles that prohibit us from getting the rights were truly deserve.