Liberty on Trial in America: Cases That Defined Freedom

There was no toleration of religious dissent in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1600s. And there certainly was no room for religious argument for a woman! When Anne Hutchinson shared with others her religious ideas and gathered a following, the governor put her on trial for heresy. Explore the trials, defense, and punishment of the woman sometimes called “America’s first feminist.”

Freedom of speech was not a recognized liberty in the early years of American colonies. Speech critical of the powers that be could land one in legal trouble, even if everyone involved agreed the statements were true. Explore the colonial history of the press freedom, voter suppression, and attempts to influence juries as they all came together to affect the libel trial of John Peter Zenger.

The citizens of the newly formed United States could not agree on the overall moral issue of slavery, but they were willing to take up its more narrow legal issues. Gain a greater understanding of the many ways in which the legal system supported the institution of slavery by examining the trials of two slaves: Anthony Burns and Celia (no last name).

John Brown's plan to end slavery came to a tragic end at Harper’s Ferry, VA, when guards were killed as he seized the federal armory and only a few slaves joined his revolt. Instead, Brown was charged with treason, murder, and slave insurrection. Learn how John Brown’s trial and execution nevertheless played a significant role in the eventual end of slavery in the United States.

Susan B. Anthony believed she was a citizen of the United States according to the Fourteenth Amendment and, as such, had the right to vote. But in 1872, the law was not on her side. So when she dropped her ballot into the box at the West End New Depot in Rochester, NY, on Election Day, she was arrested. Learn about the trial that brought nationwide attention to the issue of women’s suffrage.

Labor tensions were already at the boiling point in Chicago, when someone threw a bomb into a group of police officers. Although the bomb thrower was never found, eight defendants were tried by a jury handpicked by the bailiff, and seven were found guilty and sentenced to death for inciting violence. Explore the ways in which this trial became a key event in the history of free speech in America.

In 1925, Tennessee enacted a law making the teaching of evolution in any state-supported school a crime. John Scopes was a young science teacher at the time who agreed to serve as a test case for the law, defended by Clarence Darrow. Explore the heated opinions expressed on both sides and how the trial’s publicity brought the issue directly into American homes.

In 1925, Dr. Ossian Sweet, an African American, bought a home for his family in a white neighborhood of Detroit. When a white crowd gathered around the house and violence broke out, one member of the crowd was killed. Police charged everyone in the Sweet home with premeditated murder. Explore Clarence Darrow’s defense, and what the trial revealed about American society at that time.

Between 1938 and 1946, the Supreme Court handed down 23 opinions involving civil liberties issues raised by Jehovah’s Witnesses. Explore two of those cases, both of which address whether or not Jehovah’s Witnesses can be forced to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. Learn why the Court came down first on one side of the issue, and then the other.

In 1942, two months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt signed an executive order requiring that all Japanese Americans move to “relocation camps” as a matter of national security. Fred Korematsu refused, was arrested for violating an “exclusion order,” and convicted. Learn how Korematsu carried his fight against what he thought was an “un-American” law all the way to the Supreme Court.

Learn about Charles H. Houston, the African American lawyer who made it his life’s work to challenge Jim Crow laws and who won a Supreme Court victory in the case of Gaines v. Missouri, paving the way for the Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Houston’s work for the NAACP to end segregation led his successor, Thurgood Marshall, to say he was just carrying Houston’s bags.

Today, Lenny Bruce is considered a trailblazer of American stand-up comedy addressing the now-common themes of politics, sex, and religion. But in the 1950s and ‘60s, he was considered an obscene subversive, and arrested numerous times. Explore the ways in which Bruce and the First Amendment affected each other. Today’s authors, publishers, poets, and comedians owe a debt of gratitude to Bruce.

Richard Loving wanted to marry the woman of his dreams. But Richard was white, and Mildred, according to the commonwealth of Virginia, was “colored,” which made it illegal for them to marry. Learn how the case of this modest, unassuming couple went all the way to the Supreme Court, and how the Court’s ruling eventually led to marriage equality for same-sex couples, as well.

In the 1960s, the Amish had several disagreements with the state concerning their children’s education. But most important, they did not believe their children should be required to attend school past the age of 16. Learn how the issue made it to the Supreme Court, which conflicting liberties were considered, and why the Court decided in favor of the parents.

In 1972, when the US Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment as then administered was unconstitutional, many legal experts (including some justices) believed that would end the death penalty. Learn why that was not the case, and explore the deep complexities of the law as it relates to capital punishment.

Is it legal for an individual to copy top-secret documents and release them to the press? Can the government legally stop a newspaper from publishing classified material? Explore how these questions affected the country’s political life during the Nixon administration, and ultimately led to the president’s resignation.

Desperate for an abortion, Norma McCorvey agreed (under the name “Jane Roe”) to take the case to court, and ultimately the Supreme Court. As you learn about the famous decision that resulted, you’ll also gain a better understanding of the many other ways in which American courts have intervened in personal decisions related to sterilization and birth control, as well as abortion.

Should the government interfere in activities in your bedroom? Well into the 20th century, every state had laws prohibiting at least one sexual act, even between heterosexual married couples in the privacy of their own home. Explore the numerous lawsuits and trials that eventually extended the protection of privacy to include intimacy, regardless of sexual orientation.

Do we Americans have the freedom to isolate ourselves, express views considered racist and hateful by the majority, and stockpile legally purchased weapons? Do we have the liberty to sell a sawed-off shotgun? Explore the complex story and resultant trial that started with Randy and Vicki Weaver wanting to separate themselves from mainstream society, and ended with three dead at Ruby Ridge.

Jack Kevorkian helped hundreds end their pain and suffering. Legally tried, having escaped conviction time after time, a final trial proved his undoing. Explore Dr. Kevorkian’s work on behalf of an individual’s right to euthanasia, why he believed he was taking a stand for liberty, and why he was eventually convicted of second-degree homicide.

When the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) expelled scout leader James Dale because he way gay, Dale challenged the BSA’s authority to use sexual orientation as a basis for exclusion. In a case pitting Dale’s claimed right to be free from discrimination against the associational rights of the Scouts, the Supreme Court sided with the Boy Scouts. Examine the reasons for, and effects of, the ruling.

Does a city have the right to use eminent domain to take private property and sell it for private development if the city believes that development will improve the city’s economy? Learn how Susette Kelo’s refusal to sell her “little pink house” in New London, CT, led to a Supreme Court case addressing what she described to Congress as “eminent domain abuse," and why she lost the case.

US candidates have a long history of trying to outraise and outspend their opponents to win elections with help from big corporations and wealthy donors. Explore why, then, in 2010, the Supreme Court declared any ban on political spending by corporations to be unconstitutional, and why, at the same time, most polls show strong support for a constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling.

Many Americans were initially excluded from “liberty and justice for all.” Could future trials result in greater liberties for apes, cetaceans, and elephants? Learn how “Tommy” became the first chimpanzee to have a suit for his freedom filed on his behalf, and why one judge on the New York Court of Appeals says the issue of fundamental rights for nonhuman animals is not going away.