Describe the Warren Court and the expansion of individual rights as seen in the Miranda decision
What years was Earl Warren Chief Justice, what “type” of court did he have?
Warren was appointed chief justice of the United States by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. He then retired in 1969. His type of court was later referred to as Warren court.
What was each case about, the decision and on what constitutional/legal ground
Brown v. Board of Education
The cases was about segregation in schools. Under Warren, the justices unanimously decided that school segregation was unconstitutional.
Gideon v. Wainwright
The Warren Court also looked for equality in criminal justice. Gideon v. Wainwright required counsel for indigent defendants.
Reynolds v. Sims
The Plaintiffs alleged that the last apportionment of the Alabama legislature was based on the 1900 federal census and that the population growth in the intervening six decades has now made representation discriminatory against areas with fast-growing populations. The court ruled that, in most instances, districts should be apportioned to allow each voter to have one, undiluted vote.
Griswold v. Connecticut
T
he case concerned a Connecticut law that criminalized the encouragement or use of birth control. In Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court ruled that a state’s ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy.
Miranda v. Arizona
This was another court case devoted to criminal justice. The ruling of this case required warnings to arrested persons of their right to counsel, including appointed counsel if they could not afford one.
Reflection
Most of the information I learned under this standard is new information to me. All of these rulings of the court cases will be the information that sticks with me because these are all court cases that are relevant to our daily lives. In the wold today, it is hard to imagine what it would be like if the ruling of any of the cases went the other way.
Resources
http://www.history.com/topics/earl-warren
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_griswold.html
mycivilrightssite 