WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FOLLOWING CASES: BROWN V. BD OF
EDUCATION, ROE V WADE, MIRANDA?

Hi there!

Brown v. Board of Education is significant in that it overturned a
previous ruling (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896) that had stated that
"separate but equal" (segregation) was not unconstitutional.  This
landmark decision of 1957 declared, in effect, that Plessy v. Ferguson
was a mistake, and that segregation was indeed unconstitutional.

You can hear the Supreme Court's decision here:

Brown v. Board of Education
http://www.digisys.net/users/hootie/brown/decide.wav

An interactive history of the case can be found here:

Brown v. Board of Education
http://www.digisys.net/users/hootie/brown/

In the case of the 1972 Roe v. Wade decision, this case is considered
significant in that it held that a woman's right to an abortion at any
time during her pregnancy fell under her right to privacy (which is
protected by the 14th Amendment).

Full text of the case, as well as an overview and audio files of the
oral arguments of this still extremely contentious debate can be found
here:

Roe v. Wade
http://www.roevwade.org/court.html

The 1966 Miranda v. Arizona decision placed the burden on law
enforcement officials to notify criminal suspects of their right to
have an attorney present during questioning, and of their right to
remain silent if no attorney was present:

Miranda v. Arizona
http://www.tourolaw.edu/patch/Miranda/

Miranda vs Arizona: The Crime That Changed American Justice  
http://www.crimelibrary.com/classics4/miranda/index.htm

Earlier this week, the US Supreme Court heard arguments seeking to
have this ruling overturned:

High court tackles Miranda case (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/12/05/MN113466.DTL

Justices Ponder the Reach Of Miranda Rights Ruling (Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11416-2002Dec4.html

Articles concerning the recent hearings on Miranda can be accessed via
Google News Search:

Miranda via Google News
http://news.google.com/news?q=cluster:www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ffile%3D/c/a/2002/12/05/MN113466.DTL



--Missy

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