The Oyez Project: 1970 Term Arguments

Apodaca v. Oregon (No. 69-5046) - Oral Argument

Mon, 01 Mar 1971 12:00:00 -0500

Apodaca and two other defendants were convicted of assault, burglary, and grand larceny before three separate juries, all of which returned verdicts which were less than unanimous. Two of the cases were 11-1 and the other was 10-2 in favor of conviction.

Cohen v. California (No. 299) - Oral Argument

Mon, 22 Feb 1971 12:00:00 -0500

A 19-year-old department store worker expressed his opposition to the Vietnam War by wearing a jacket emblazoned with "FUCK THE DRAFT. STOP THE WAR" The young man, Paul Cohen, was charged under a California statute that prohibits "maliciously and willfully disturb[ing] the peace and quiet of any neighborhood or person [by] offensive conduct." Cohen was found guilty and sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Coolidge v. New Hampshire (No. 323) - Oral Argument

Tue, 12 Jan 1971 12:00:00 -0500

In the wake of a "particularly brutal" murder of a fourteen-year-old girl, the New Hampshire Attorney General took charge of police activities relating to the murder. When the police applied for a warrant to search suspect Edward Coolidge's automobile, the Attorney General, acting as a justice of the peace, authorized it. Additionally, local police had taken items from Coolidge's home during the course of an interview with the suspect's wife. Coolidge was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Griggs v. Duke Power Company (No. 124) - Oral Argument

Mon, 14 Dec 1970 12:00:00 -0500

Willie Griggs filed a class action, on behalf of several fellow African- American employees, against his employer Duke Power Company . Griggs challenged Duke's "inside" transfer policy, requiring employees who want to work in all but the company's lowest paying Labor Department to register a minimum score on two separate aptitude tests in addition to having a high school education. Griggs claimed that Duke's policy discriminated against African-American employees in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. On appeal from a district court's dismissal of the claim, the Court of Appeals found no discriminatory practices. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.

Harris v. New York (No. 206) - Oral Argument

Thu, 17 Dec 1970 12:00:00 -0500

Harris was arrested for making two sales of heroin to an undercover police officer. Before receiving the Miranda warnings, Harris said that he had made both sales at the request of the officer. This statement was not admitted into evidence at the trial. However, Harris later testified in Court that he did not make the first sale and in the second sale he merely sold the officer baking powder. Harris' initial statement was then used by the prosecution in an attempt to impeach his credibility.

Johnson v. Louisiana (No. 69-5035) - Oral Argument

Mon, 01 Mar 1971 12:00:00 -0500

The Louisiana State Constitution and Code of Criminal Procedure allowed less-than-unanimous juries to convict defendants in criminal cases in which hard labor is considered as punishment. Nine of twelve jury members were needed to return a guilty verdict. Johnson was convicted of armed robbery by a jury split nine to three.

Johnson v. Louisiana (No. 69-5035) - Oral Reargument

Mon, 10 Jan 1972 12:00:00 -0500

Lemon v. Kurtzman (No. 89) - Oral Argument

Wed, 03 Mar 1971 12:00:00 -0500

This case was heard concurrently with two others, Earley v. DiCenso (1971) and Robinson v. DiCenso (1971). The cases involved controversies over laws in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. In Pennsylvania, a statute provided financial support for teacher salaries, textbooks, and instructional materials for secular subjects to non-public schools. The Rhode Island statute provided direct supplemental salary payments to teachers in non-public elementary schools. Each statute made aid available to "church-related educational institutions."

Lemon v. Kurtzman (No. 89) - Oral Argument (No. 569)

Wed, 03 Mar 1971 12:00:00 -0500

New York Times v. United States (No. 1873) - Oral Argument

Sat, 26 Jun 1971 12:00:00 -0500

In what became known as the "Pentagon Papers Case," the Nixon Administration attempted to prevent the New York Times and Washington Post from publishing materials belonging to a classified Defense Department study regarding the history of United States activities in Vietnam. The President argued that prior restraint was necessary to protect national security. This case was decided together with United States v. Washington Post Co.

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Ed. (No. 281) - Oral Argument

Mon, 12 Oct 1970 12:00:00 -0500

After the Supreme Court's decision in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education, little progress had been made in desegregating public schools. One example was the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, system in which approximately 14,000 black students attended schools that were either totally black or more than 99 percent black. Lower courts had experimented with a number of possible solutions when the case reached the Supreme Court.

Tilton v. Richardson (No. 153) - Oral Argument, Part 1

Tue, 02 Mar 1971 12:00:00 -0500

The federal Higher Education Facilities Act of 1963 provided construction grants to church-sponsored higher educational institutions. The grants were to be used for the construction of non-religious school facilities. The Act also stipulated that twenty years after the grant had been given, schools were free to use the buildings for any purpose.

Tilton v. Richardson (No. 153) - Oral Argument, Part 2

Tue, 02 Mar 1971 12:00:00 -0500