The right to counsel is the right for a criminal defendant to have representation by an attorney in assistance of their defense, regardless of their ability to pay. The right to counsel stems from the Sixth Amendment of the United States...
individual rights
right to privacy
Overview:
There is a long and evolving history regarding the right to privacy in the United States. In the context of American jurisprudence, the Supreme Court first recognized the “right to privacy” in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). Before...
riparian rights
Riparian rights are the rights of a riparian landowner to certain uses of the river or stream adjoining their property. In a 2018 Wisconsin Supreme Court case, Movrich v. Lobermeier, the Court, citing influential treatises and case precedent,...
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Roe v. Wade is the Supreme Court case that held that the Constitution protected the right to an abortion prior to the viability of the fetus. In 2022, the Supreme Court reversed Roe and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey...
Roth v. United States (1957)
Roth v. United States is a 1957 Supreme Court case holding that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. Find the full opinion here.
It has since been superseded by Miller v. California, which created a three-part standard to...
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between partners of the same sex and/or gender identity. For example, a marriage between two men or two women.
In 2003, Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex...
Schenck v. United States (1919)
Schenck v. United States is a U.S. Supreme Court decision finding the Espionage Act of 1917 constitutional. The Court ruled that freedom of speech and freedom of the press under the First Amendment could be limited only if the words in the...
self-incrimination
Self-incrimination is the intentional or unintentional act of providing information that will suggest your involvement in a crime, or expose you to criminal prosecution.
The Fifth Amendment provides protection to individuals...
sex trafficking
Sex trafficking is a form of human trafficking which transports or exploits persons to use them for sexual acts. Title 22, Section 7102 of the U.S. Code defines sex trafficking as “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision,...
similarly situated
Similarly situated refers to one class of persons being alike in all relevant ways to another class for purposes of a particular decision or issue. The term is commonly used in racial discrimination cases in which the plaintiff may seek to...