1. Why did the Bill of Rights originally apply only to the federal government and not to the states?

2. How did the Fourteenth Amendment change the relationship between the Bill of Rights and state governments?

3. What is due process and how does it prevent arbitrary government action?

1. How did the Chicago rail case establish the incorporation of the Fifth Amendment's just compensation clause?

1. What was the significance of Gitlow v. New York even though Gitlow's conviction was upheld?

2. How did Near v. Minnesota strengthen First Amendment protections against state governments?

3. Why did the Founding Fathers originally propose limiting state authority over First Amendment rights?

1. What was the constitutional question in McDonald v. Chicago and how did the Court rule?

2. How did the Court use historical context from the Fourteenth Amendment to justify incorporating the Second Amendment?

3. What impact did McDonald have on state and local gun regulations?

4. How does McDonald v. Chicago relate to the earlier Heller decision and what did each case accomplish?

1. What has been the Supreme Court's approach to gun rights cases since McDonald, and how have the executive and legislative branches responded?

1. What historical origins does the concept of due process have and what does it ensure for individuals?

2. How did Chief Justice Earl Warren's Court expand procedural due process protections during his tenure?

1. What is the exclusionary rule and how did Mapp v. Ohio apply it to state law enforcement?

2. What are the inevitable discovery and good faith exceptions to the exclusionary rule?

1. How does New Jersey v. TLO balance students' Fourth Amendment protections with school officials' need to maintain order?

2. What standard do school officials use to conduct searches compared to the probable cause standard required for police?

1. How have recent Supreme Court decisions extended Fourth Amendment protections regarding GPS tracking, cell phones, and drug-sniffing dogs?

1. What is metadata and why has the government's collection of it raised Fourth Amendment concerns?

2. How did the USA FREEDOM Act address government access to phone metadata?

1. What legal questions arose when the Bush administration declared a war on terror and how did it classify captured individuals?

1. What did Rasul v. Bush establish about habeas corpus rights for detainees at Guantanamo Bay?

2. How did Hamdi v. Rumsfeld and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld limit executive power in the war on terror?

1. Which amendments protect the rights of the accused and how have they been incorporated to apply to the states?

1. What was the issue in Miranda v. Arizona and what standard did the Court establish for police interrogations?

2. How did the Miranda ruling change police procedures and what was the reaction from different groups?

1. What is the public safety exception and how did New York v. Quarles establish when it applies?

1. How did the Sixth Amendment's right to counsel evolve from Betts v. Brady to Gideon v. Wainwright?

1. What was the constitutional question in Gideon v. Wainwright and what did the Court rule?

2. Why did the Court reject the distinction between capital and noncapital offenses regarding the right to counsel?

3. How does Gideon v. Wainwright relate to the principle of equal justice and fair trials?

1. How does substantive due process differ from procedural due process in protecting fundamental liberties?

2. What did the Slaughterhouse Cases establish about the Fourteenth Amendment's privileges or immunities clause?

3. How have courts applied substantive due process to strike down laws limiting employment, education, and other fundamental rights?

1. How did Louis Brandeis's views on privacy influence Supreme Court jurisprudence from Olmstead to Griswold?

2. What did Griswold v. Connecticut establish about the right to privacy and where the Court found this right in the Constitution?

3. How did the Court's ruling in the wiretapping case reverse Olmstead and expand Fourth Amendment privacy protections?

1. What was the constitutional basis for the Court's decision in Roe v. Wade and what did the ruling establish?

2. How did Planned Parenthood v. Casey modify abortion rights while maintaining the core holding of Roe?

3. What factors led to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization?

1. How did the Dobbs decision change the constitutional status of abortion rights and what authority did it return to the states?

2. What did Justice Thomas's concurring opinion suggest about the future of substantive due process precedents?

3. How have states responded to the Dobbs decision through trigger laws and new legislation?