MCLE Audio

As a service to practicing attorneys (and to the general public), Quo Jure is pleased to offer readings of selected cases in American jurisprudence. You'll also find links to the full written opinions, and to other pages of interest:

• The United States v. The Schooner Amistad
  Africans aboard a schooner seized from its captain were not slaves and the property of Spanish owners, but must be released as free men.
• Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition
  Is "Romeo and Juliet" really child pornography?
• Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents
  The Fourth Amendment supports a damage claim against federal agents for unconstitutional acts done under color of their authority.
• Boumediene v. George W. Bush
  Habeas Corpus applies even in Guantanamo Bay.
• Brown v. Board of Education
  In honor of its 50th anniversary, the landmark case that overturned Plessy.
• Bush v. Gore
  Need we say more? (Includes Justice Bader-Ginsburg's dissent.)
• Gonzales v. Carhart
  Upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. (Includes dissent.)
• Clinton v. Jones
  A sitting President must defend against a civil suit based on his acts before taking office.
• Crawford v. Marion County Election Board
  Indiana law requiring photo identification of voters is constitutional.
• Dred Scott v. Sandford
  Notorious case holding that African-Americans cannot be citizens.
• Epperson v. Arkansas
  Arkansas cannot prohibit schools from teaching the theory of evolution.
• Griswold v. Connecticut
  Privacy is a constitutional right.
• Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
  The Executive is bound to comply with the Rule of Law, even in Guantanamo.
• Hamdi v. Rumsfeld
  Justice O'Connor's parting shot: War does not give the President a blank check to detain citizens without due process.
• Hustler Magazine v. Falwell
  Sorry Jerry, but even Hustler is entitled to the First Amendment's protection
• Ashcroft v. Iqbal
  To state a claim for relief in federal court, the plaintiff now must plead facts that are "plausible."
• Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
  The district court [USDC MD Pa] conclusively demolishes "Intelligent Design" as an alternative to Darwinian evolution in public schools.
• Lawrence v. Texas
  States cannot criminalize the private sexual conduct of consenting adults.
• Lemon v. Kurtzman
  Setting standards for separation of church and state under the First Amendment.
• Mapp v. Ohio
  Evidence obtained through illegal search and seizure cannot be admitted in state court criminal cases.
• Marbury v. Madison
  Justice John Marshall's 1803 opinion establishing that the United States Supreme Court has the final say on questions of constitutionality.
• Miranda v. Arizona
  "You have the right to remain silent." Law enforcement officers must tell suspects their rights before custodial interrogation.
• Morse v. Frederick
  A "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner gets a high school student suspended. The First Amendment must defer to the War on Drugs, at least for those still in school.
• Plessy v. Ferguson
  Infamous case establishing the racial "separate but equal" doctrine in public accommodation. Don't miss Justice Harlan's stinging dissent.
• United States v. Cecil Price
  The "Mississippi Burning" case, involving the murder of three civil rights workers by state officials and their co-conspirators.
• Roe v. Wade
  A pregnant woman has the right to decide whether or not to have an abortion.
• Rules of Professional Conduct
  State Bar of California Rules of Professional Conduct as of April 2008. (Tedious, but qualifies for ethics credit.)
• Segretti v. The State Bar of California
  The California Supreme Court finds that Daniel Segretti's political dirty tricks were unethical, and requires him to take the Professional Responsibility Examination. [Legal ethics]
• Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. v. Sawyer
  Exploring the constitutional limits, if any, on presidential "war powers."

We will be expanding this list; please let us know if you have a favorite case you'd like us to add.

Quo Jure Corporation is a qualified California MCLE provider, which means that if you are a California attorney you can earn MCLE credit for this activity. When you've listened to all the audio files that make up each case, you'll be given a unique code number. When you've listened to as many cases as you like, call 1-800-843-0660 with the cases and codes and your State Bar number, and we'll send you a FREE California MCLE certificate.

Embedded citations are omitted, but the files contain the full text of majority opinions and some key dissenting or concurring opinions. The cases are, of course, in the public domain, but these readings are copyright 2002-2010 by Quo Jure Corporation. The reader is Jim Schenkel.

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