The Warren Court

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The Warren Court

Overview

• In 1953, President Eisenhower appointed California governor Earl Warren as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court.
• Both men were moderate Republicans. But Eisenhower would come to dislike Warren for his legal opinions.
• Once he had picked up the gavel, Chief Justice Warren began making controversial rulings in a number of landmark cases that would deeply transform American society.

• In 1958, Virginia residents Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter, a woman with African American and American Indian ancestry, drove to nearby Washington, DC, to get married.
• The newlyweds returned to Virginia only to be awakened and arrested by the sheriff at 2 a.m. In a Virginia court, the couple pled guilty, hoping for leniency.
• The case of Loving v. Virginia made its way to the Supreme Court.
• Lawyers for the state argued that Virginia's miscegenation laws were not unlike laws against incest or polygamy.
• Lawyers for the ACLU argued that Virginia's law was based on racism.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• In 1954, not long after joining the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Earl Warren presided over the case of Brown v. Board of Education.
• In 1896, the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson established the principle of "Separate but equal," which approved segregationist laws that separated the races.
• Brown v. Board of Education challenged the 19th-century Court's ruling.
• The Court's decision would signal the most revolutionary changes to American society in the 20th century.

Loving v. Virginia (1967)

• In the 1950s, Virginia still followed anti-miscegenation laws that made interracial marriage a felony.

Civil Rights Cases

• In 1962, the issue of school prayer tested the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution.
• This clause from the First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." New York State had passed a law requiring public schools to begin every school day by leading the students in a nondenominational prayer.
• Any students who objected were allowed to absent themselves from this daily practice.
• The parents of 10 students disagreed and filed suit.
• Public schools could not promote one particular religious perspective over others

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

• In a unanimous verdict, the Court declared the Virginia law unconstitutional.
• In his opinion, Chief Justice Warren wrote, "Under our constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the state." The Loving case was one of many civil rights issues that the Warren Court helped advance.

Civil Rights Cases (continued)

Engel v. Vitale (continued)

• On May 23, 1957, in Cleveland, Ohio, three police officers were seeking Virgil Ogletree, the operator of an illegal gambling racket.
• Ogletree was suspected of bombing the home of rival numbers operator Donald King. An informant’s tip led the police to a two-story rooming house.
• Mapp telephoned her attorney, who instructed her to refuse them entry because they had no search warrant.
• Mapp blocked them and demanded to see their search warrant.
• Mapp snatched the paper from his hand and shoved it down the front of her blouse.
• The officer reached down Mapp's blouse and grabbed the paper back.

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

by engaging an entire student body in prayer, no matter how nondenominational the prayer.

• Further, allowing students to remove themselves from the practice served to single them out for ridicule by the other students.
• With two justices abstaining, the Court ruled 6-1 that school prayer was unconstitutional.

Mapp v. Ohio (continued)

• Mapp was handcuffed as officers entered the residence.
• Officers found some nude drawings in the basement of Mapp's residence.
• Mapp received a felony conviction for possessing obscene material.
• Mapp appealed her conviction, and in 1961 the case of Mapp v. Ohio made its way to the Supreme Court.
• In a vote of 6-3, the justices ruled in favor of Mapp and reversed her conviction on June 19, 1961.
• The historic Mapp v. Ohio decision ensured protections for citizens against unreasonable search and seizures.

given to Miranda.

• In Moore's view, Miranda had been pressured into incriminating himself without counsel present.
• Moore filed an appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court stating that Miranda's confession was

• While at his home on the night of March 13, 1963, Ernesto Miranda was arrested by the Phoenix Police Department. Miranda, who was mentally unstable and already had a criminal record, was charged with rape, kidnapping, and robbery.
• Miranda wrote and signed a confession to the kidnapping and rape of one woman.
• The police interrogator described Miranda's confession was voluntary and presented it as such in court.
• At no time was Miranda informed of his right to counsel or that his confession would be used against him.
• Miranda's court-appointed attorney, Alvin Moore, objected to the lack of information

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) The Supreme Court ruled that under the Sixth Amendment, states are required to provide a defendant with a lawyer if the accused cannot afford one. Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) The Supreme Court ruled that students’ right to protest and speak at school cannot be infringed unless it causes a “substantial disruption.”

Other Key Warren Court Rulings

not voluntary and should not be admitted.

• In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court held that Miranda had been denied his guaranteed rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution.

The Miranda warning includes the following verbal statements:

• You have the right to remain silent.
• Anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law.
• You have the right to an attorney.
• If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you.

Miranda v. Arizona (1966) (continued)