Carroll v. U.S. (1925) was the first decision in which the Supreme Court acknowledged an “automobile exception” to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Under this exception, an officer only needs probable cause to search a vehicle, rather than a search warrant.

The Constitutional Convention was called in May of 1787 to make revisions to the Articles of Confederation. George Washington was immediately named the convention's president. The articles had been shown since their adoption to be very weak.

Constitutional law is a body of law based on a ratified constitution or similar formative charter dealing with the fundamental principles by which a government exercises its authority. These principles typically define the roles and powers of the various branches of the government and the basic rights of the people.

In Cooper v. Aaron (1958), the United States Supreme Court ruled that an Arkansas School Board had to comply with federal court orders regarding desegregation. The decision affirmed and enforced the Court's previous ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

Often described as a living document, the Constitution is constantly being interpreted and reinterpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appeals courts, and Congress in order to address the ever-changing needs and demands of the people. While many argue that "We the People of the United States" refers only to legal citizens, the Supreme Court and lawmakers have consistently disagreed, and for longer than you may think.

Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine when criminal suspects should have access to an attorney. The majority found that someone suspected of a crime has the right to speak with an attorney during a police interrogation under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. Constitution was written at the Philadelphia Convention, also known as the Constitutional Convention, and signed on September 17, 1787. It was ratified in 1789. The document established our nation's fundamental laws and government structures and ensured basic rights for American citizens.

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution are known as the Bill of Rights. Those 10 amendments establish the most basic freedoms for Americans, including the rights to worship, speak, and peacefully assemble and protest their government how they want. The amendments have also been subject to much interpretation since their adoption, particularly the right to carry a gun under the Second Amendment.

Florida v. Bostick (1991) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether consensual searches of passenger luggage aboard a bus violated the Fourth Amendment. The Court found that the location of the search was only one factor in a larger question of whether or not a person actually had the free will to decline the search.

Furman v. Georgia (1972) was a landmark Supreme Court case in which a majority of justices ruled that existing death penalty schemes in states nationwide were arbitrary and inconsistent, violating the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In Georgia v. Randolph (2006), the U.S. Supreme Court found that evidence seized during an unwarranted search where two occupants are present but one objects to the search, cannot be used in court against the objecting occupant.

Goldberg v. Kelly (1970) asked the Supreme Court to determine whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies to welfare recipients who are about to lose their benefits. The landmark case hinged on whether or not public assistance could be considered “property” and whether the interests of the state or the individual took precedence.

The three-fifths compromise was an agreement reached by the state delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Under the compromise, every enslaved American would be counted as three-fifths of a person for taxation and representation purposes. This agreement gave the Southern states more electoral power than they would have had if the enslaved population had been ignored entirely.

Amending the Constitution was never meant to be simple. Although thousands of amendments have been discussed since the original document was approved in 1788, there are now only 27 amendments in the Constitution.

The Magna Carta, meaning “Great Charter,” is one of the most influential political documents ever written: it is seen by many modern political scientists as the fundamental document for many of the governing laws of the west, including the United States. Originally issued in 1215 by King John of England as a way of dealing with his own political crisis, the Magna Carta was the first governmental decree establishing the principle that all people—including the king—were equally subject to the law.

Ingraham v. Wright (1977) asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide if corporal punishment in public schools violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Court ruled that physical punishment does not qualify as "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Eighth Amendment.

In Katzenbach v. Morgan (1966), the United States Supreme Court ruled that Congress had not exceeded its authority when crafting Section 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which extended voting rights to a group of voters who had been turned away at the polls because they could not pass literacy tests. The case hinged on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Enforcement Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Katz v. United States (1967) asked the Supreme Court to decide whether wiretapping a public phone booth requires a search warrant. The Court found that an average person has an expectation of privacy while making a call in a public phone booth. As a result, agents violated the Fourth Amendment when they used electronic surveillance to listen in on a suspect without a warrant.

In Lawrence v. Texas (2003) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Texas law prohibiting same-sex couples from engaging in sexual activity, even in the home, was unconstitutional. The case overturned Bowers v. Hardwick, a case in which the Court had upheld an anti-sodomy law in Georgia a few decades prior.

In Massiah v. United States (1964), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prevents police officers from deliberately eliciting incriminating statements from a suspect after that suspect has invoked the right to counsel.