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How the Earl Warren Court Liberalized America Essay

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The Warren Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States between 1953 and 1969, when Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. Warren led a liberal majority that used judicial power in dramatic fashion, to the consternation of conservative opponents. The Warren Court expanded civil rights, civil liberties, judicial power, and the federal power in dramatic ways. One way the Warren Court liberalized America, is through the court cases of Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), Escobedo v. Illinois (1964), and Miranda v. Arizona (1966), where these court cases helped define Due Process and the rights of defendants. Another way the Warren Court liberalized America, is through the cases of Tinker v. Des Moines ISD (1969), Engle v. Vitale (1962), and …show more content…

The issue of Tinker v. Des Moines ISD was that students were to wear black arm bands to school in protest of the Vietnam War; however the school warned that anyone wearing the armbands would be would be suspended, but the Tinker children wore their armbands to school (they were the only ones of the group to do so) and were suspended leading to Mr. and Mrs. Tinker filing a law suit claiming that the school violated the children's right to freedom of speech and expression. The court ruled against the school district saying that "students do not shed their constitutional rights at the school house gates. In doing so the court protected what has come to be known as "symbolic speech." In the case of Engle v. Vitale, the Supreme Court ruled that prayers in schools were considered unconstitutional, leading to a ban of all prayers led by teachers in school, even if the prayer was considered voluntary, stating, in a way, that there was some sort of “separation of church and state” which is not true. Lastly, New York Times v. Sullivan focused more on the freedom of the press, ruling that “actual malice” must be proven to support a finding of libel against a public figure. Finally, the Warren Court liberalized America in a dramatic way, since that it focused more on the right to privacy, the incorporation of the

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