AP Gov required Supreme Court cases: All 15 explained

AP US Government requires you to know 15 Supreme Court cases by name. They're not decorative: The exam explicitly tests them in the multiple-choice section and in the SCOTUS comparison free-response question, where you're given an unfamiliar case and asked to compare it to a required one.

This article walks through all 15 in a single reference table, then adds context on the constitutional principle each case established and where each one tends to appear on the exam.

Marbury v. Madison (1803) established judicial review: The Supreme Court has the power to strike down laws it deems unconstitutional. Marshall's ruling makes the Court a coequal branch. Frequently paired with any question about checks and balances.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) established two things: The Necessary and Proper Clause gives Congress implied powers beyond those explicitly listed, and the Supremacy Clause means federal law overrides state law in areas of federal authority. Maryland couldn't tax the federally-chartered Bank of the US.

United States v. Lopez (1995) is the counterweight: The Court struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act because carrying a gun near a school wasn't sufficiently related to interstate commerce. It marks a limit on how far the Commerce Clause can stretch.

Schenck v. United States (1919) established the clear and present danger test for limiting speech. Schenck was convicted for distributing anti-draft leaflets during WWI; the Court held that speech posing a clear and present danger of harms Congress has a right to prevent isn't protected.

Engel v. Vitale (1962) struck down state-sponsored school prayer as a violation of the Establishment Clause. The Court held the government cannot direct religious exercise even where participation is voluntary.

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) protected students' symbolic speech: Students wearing black armbands to protest Vietnam couldn't be suspended. The Court famously held students don't shed their rights at the schoolhouse gate.

Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) upheld the Free Exercise Clause: Amish parents had the right to remove children from public school after eighth grade for religious reasons, outweighing the state's interest in compulsory education.

New York Times v. United States (1971), the Pentagon Papers case, held that prior restraint on publication is presumptively unconstitutional. The government cannot block newspapers from publishing classified material without an extraordinarily high burden of proof.

Citizens United v. FEC (2010) held that political spending by corporations and unions is protected speech under the First Amendment, striking down key parts of the McCain-Feingold Act.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) unanimously overturned Plessy v. Ferguson's separate but equal doctrine in public schools. Racial segregation was ruled inherently unequal and a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) established that indigent defendants in state felony cases have a right to court-appointed counsel under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. It's a foundational selective incorporation case.

McDonald v. Chicago (2010) selectively incorporated the Second Amendment against the states via the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause, extending Heller (2008) beyond federal jurisdiction.

Roe v. Wade (1973) established a constitutional right to abortion grounded in a right to privacy inferred from several amendments. It was overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson (2022), but it remains on the AP Gov required list because the reasoning continues to appear in comparative FRQ prompts.

Baker v. Carr (1962) held that federal courts could hear redistricting cases, establishing the one person, one vote principle. Before Baker, unequal district populations were treated as a political question outside judicial reach.

Shaw v. Reno (1993) held that racial gerrymandering, drawing district lines primarily on the basis of race, violates the Equal Protection Clause. It sits in tension with the Voting Rights Act's requirement to create majority-minority districts in some cases, a tension the Court continues to work through.

The 15 cases cluster around a small number of exam-tested constitutional themes, which is a more useful way to hold them in memory than as a flat list.

Federalism and federal power: Marbury (judicial review), McCulloch (implied powers, supremacy), Lopez (Commerce Clause limits). These three appear together in prompts on the balance between federal authority and state authority.

First Amendment: Speech and press: Schenck (limits), Tinker (student symbolic speech), NYT v. US (prior restraint), Citizens United (campaign spending as speech). Together they map out how far speech protection extends and where the Court has drawn lines.

First Amendment: Religion: Engel (Establishment Clause), Yoder (Free Exercise). The two cases together show the tension the two religion clauses can create.

Equal protection and civil rights: Brown (racial segregation), Shaw v. Reno (racial gerrymandering). Both anchor on the Fourteenth Amendment.

Selective incorporation: Gideon (right to counsel via the Fourteenth Amendment), McDonald (Second Amendment against the states). Both illustrate how the Bill of Rights was progressively applied to state governments.

Right to privacy: Roe. This is the outlier: A right the Court inferred from other amendments rather than one explicitly stated. Its overturning by Dobbs (2022) makes it a live example of doctrinal change.

Grouping by theme is what lets you compare cases fluently on the FRQ.