America250 — 250 years since 1776. Explore two and a half centuries of American history. Start the tour
Home / Tags / #Law & Justice

#Law & Justice

126 entries

People (23)
Belle Starr
The "Bandit Queen" of Indian Territory, shot dead in an unsolved murder
Billy the Kid
The teenage gunfighter killed by Pat Garrett in the Lincoln County War
Bonnie and Clyde
The Depression-era couple whose two-year crime spree ended in a Louisiana ambush
Butch Cassidy
The Wild Bunch leader who vanished in a disputed Bolivia shootout
Daniel Webster
Senator, Orator, and Champion of American Union
Doc Holliday
The tubercular dentist-turned-gambler who stood with Wyatt Earp at the O.K. Corral
Dred Scott
Enslaved man whose lawsuit for freedom produced the Supreme Court's most condemned decision
Earl Warren
Chief Justice whose Court transformed American civil rights, 1953–1969
J. Edgar Hoover
The director who ruled the FBI for half a century — and amassed unrivaled power
James McNeill Whistler
The expatriate who made art about itself, 1834-1903
Jesse James
The Confederate guerrilla who became America's most romanticized outlaw
John Marshall
Chief Justice who forged the Supreme Court into a coequal branch of government
John Wesley Hardin
The deadliest gunfighter in Texas, killed by a lawman while practicing law
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
The Great Dissenter — Supreme Court Justice and philosopher of American law, 1902–1932
Pat Garrett
The sheriff who killed Billy the Kid and defended it for life
Peter Stuyvesant
The last director-general of New Netherland, 1647-1664
Roger Taney
Chief Justice who wrote the Dred Scott decision — the worst ruling in the Court's history
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Supreme Court Justice and architect of American gender equality law, 1993–2020
Sandra Day O'Connor
First woman to serve on the Supreme Court, 1981–2006
Thurgood Marshall
The lawyer who dismantled segregation in court and became the first Black Supreme Court Justice
Wild Bill Hickok
Civil War scout and frontier lawman killed holding a dead man's hand
William Howard Taft
27th President and 10th Chief Justice of the United States
Wyatt Earp
The Tombstone lawman whose 30-second gunfight became American myth
Places (9)
Alcatraz Island
The island fortress in San Francisco Bay that held the nation's most dangerous men — and became a symbol of Native resistance
American Samoa
The South Pacific territory whose people are American nationals, not citizens
Angel Island
The Pacific gateway where arrival often meant detention, not welcome
Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp
The offshore prison built to sit outside the law, opened 2002
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Puritan commonwealth that governed itself, 1630-1691
National Archives
Where the Declaration, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are kept
Navajo Nation
The largest Indian reservation in the United States, spanning 27,000 square miles across the Four Corners
Puerto Rico
American since 1898, a commonwealth since 1952, and a state never
Supreme Court Building
The 'Marble Palace' the Court didn't get until its 135th year
Events (18)
Boston Marathon Bombing
The 2013 terror attack and the manhunt that gripped a city
Civil Rights Movement
The decades-long struggle that dismantled legal segregation and reshaped American democracy
Columbine High School Shooting
The 1999 attack that reshaped how America sees school violence
Election of 2000
Bush v. Gore and the 36-day Florida recount that decided the presidency
Impeachment of Bill Clinton
The 1998–99 impeachment over the Lewinsky affair
Impeachments of Donald Trump
The first president impeached twice, in 2019 and 2021
Internment of Japanese Americans
The forced relocation of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II
January 6 Capitol Attack
The 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol that interrupted the certification of the presidential election
Murder of George Floyd
The 2020 killing that triggered a global racial-justice reckoning
Prohibition Era
The national ban on alcohol that lasted from 1920 to 1933
The #MeToo Movement
The 2017 reckoning over sexual harassment and assault
The Gaspee Affair
Rhode Islanders burn a revenue schooner, June 1772
The O.J. Simpson Trial
The 1995 "trial of the century" that exposed America's racial divide
The Purchase of Manhattan
What the one surviving document actually says, 1626
The Rosenberg Case
The Cold War espionage trial that ended in the electric chair
The Waco Siege
The 1993 standoff that ended in fire and fueled the militia movement
Trail of Tears
The forced relocation of Native nations from the American Southeast, 1830–1850
Watergate
The 1972–1974 political scandal that ended a presidency and shook American democracy
Documents (53)
Alien and Sedition Acts
The 1798 laws that tested the limits of free speech and nearly tore the young republic apart
Brown v. Board of Education
The 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared school segregation unconstitutional
Chinese Exclusion Act
The First Federal Law to Bar Immigration by Race, 1882
Civil Rights Act of 1866
The first federal law to define American citizenship and guarantee equal rights regardless of race
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Reconstruction's promise of equal public life — struck down 89 years before it could be replaced
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The landmark law that banned discrimination and made legal segregation a federal crime
Civil Rights Act of 1968
The Fair Housing Act — Passed One Week After King's Assassination
Dawes Act
The 1887 Law That Dismantled Native American Tribal Land
Eighth Amendment
The ban on cruel and unusual punishment
Eleventh Amendment
State sovereign immunity from federal lawsuits
Espionage Act of 1917
The Wartime Law That Criminalized Dissent — and Never Went Away
Fifth Amendment
Due process, self-incrimination, and the rights of the accused
First Amendment
The constitutional guarantee of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition
Fourth Amendment
The guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures
Gibbons v. Ogden
The 1824 ruling that gave Congress the power to regulate the national economy
Gideon v. Wainwright
The unanimous 1963 ruling that guaranteed the right to counsel for every criminal defendant
Immigration Act of 1924
The Johnson-Reed Act That Closed America's Door by Race and Nation
Indian Removal Act
The 1830 law that authorized the forced relocation of Indigenous peoples east of the Mississippi
Interstate Commerce Act
The 1887 Law That First Subjected American Business to Federal Regulation
Korematsu v. United States
The 1944 ruling that upheld Japanese American internment — and was later repudiated
Loving v. Virginia
The 1967 ruling that struck down bans on interracial marriage
Marbury v. Madison
The 1803 ruling that established the Supreme Court's power to strike down laws
McCulloch v. Maryland
The 1819 ruling that established the doctrine of implied federal powers
Miranda v. Arizona
The 1966 ruling that gave every suspect the right to silence
Ninth Amendment
The rights retained by the people
Obergefell v. Hodges
The 2015 Supreme Court decision that established the constitutional right to same-sex marriage
Pentagon Papers
The leaked Defense Department history that revealed the government had systematically lied about Vietnam
Plessy v. Ferguson
The 1896 Supreme Court ruling that made "separate but equal" the law of the land
Roe v. Wade
The 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion a constitutional right — and its 2022 reversal
Seventh Amendment
The right to a jury trial in civil cases
Sherman Antitrust Act
The 1890 law that gave the federal government its first tool against monopoly power
Sixth Amendment
The right to a speedy, public, and fair criminal trial
Tenth Amendment
The powers reserved to the states and the people
The Authorization for Use of Military Force
The sixty words that authorized twenty years of war, 2001
The Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ratified 1791
The Declaratory Act
Repeal with one hand, absolute authority with the other, 1766
The Fair Labor Standards Act
The 1938 law that set the minimum wage, the 40-hour week, and ended child labor
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The law that forced the North to enforce slavery — and radicalized it
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
The Hart-Celler Act that abolished the national-origins quotas and remade America
The Indian Citizenship Act
The 1924 law that made Native Americans citizens of a country built on their land
The Insular Cases
The decisions that held the Constitution does not fully follow the flag, from 1901
The Intolerable Acts
The Coercive Acts meant to isolate Massachusetts, 1774
The Pure Food and Drug Act
The 1906 law that put the federal government inside the American food supply
The Quartering Act
Making the colonies pay to house the king's troops, 1765
The Second Amendment
Twenty-seven words at the center of America's gun debate
The USA PATRIOT Act
The 2001 law that expanded surveillance after September 11
The Wagner Act
The 1935 law that gave American workers the right to organize
Third Amendment
The near-forgotten ban on quartering soldiers in private homes
Title IX
The 1972 law that transformed women's sports and education
U.S. Constitution
The 1787 framework of government that has governed the United States ever since
United States v. Nixon
The unanimous 1974 ruling that forced the White House tapes and ended a presidency
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The law that finally enforced the 15th Amendment — nearly a century after its ratification
War Powers Resolution
Congress's 1973 attempt to reclaim the power to declare war from the executive branch
Concepts (12)
Affirmative Action
The Six-Decade Legal and Political Battle Over Race-Conscious Remediation
Checks and Balances
The constitutional design that prevents any branch of government from becoming supreme
Due Process
The constitutional guarantee that government cannot deprive citizens of life, liberty, or property without fair procedures
Equal Protection
The Fourteenth Amendment guarantee that government must treat similarly situated people equally under the law
Executive Order
The presidential tool the Constitution never named — and no president has stopped using
Federalism
The division of power between national and state governments that defines American governance
Gerrymandering
The art of drawing district lines to choose your voters before they choose you
Jim Crow Laws
The system of racial segregation that governed the South from Reconstruction to the 1960s
Judicial Review
The power of courts to strike down laws that violate the Constitution
Segregation
The Legal and Social System That Enforced Racial Separation Across American Life
Separation of Church and State
The constitutional principle Jefferson named, the courts refined, and America has been arguing about ever since
Separation of Powers
The constitutional division of government authority among three independent branches
Organizations (10)
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
The grief-driven movement that changed America's drinking laws, 1980
The ACLU
The organization that made the Bill of Rights its client, founded 1920
The Department of Homeland Security
The cabinet department built out of September 11, 2002
The Environmental Protection Agency
The 1970 agency Nixon created to police the nation's air and water
The FBI
The federal police force born in 1908 that hunted gangsters and radicals — and sometimes the Constitution
The Federal Trade Commission
The Progressive-era regulator created to police unfair competition, 1914
The Food and Drug Administration
The agency that guards the nation's food and medicine, 1906
The National Rifle Association
From a marksmanship club to the most powerful gun lobby in America, 1871
The New York Times
The paper of record, founded 1851
The Securities and Exchange Commission
The New Deal watchdog created to police Wall Street, 1934
Technology (1)
Organ Transplantation
From an identical-twin kidney in 1954 to a permanent scarcity
All Tags
Politics 179 Economy 171 Military 130 Law & Justice 126 Presidency 124 Reform 121 Civil Rights 120 Science & Technology 112 Foreign Policy 107 Arts & Culture 103 Founding Era 100 Race 98 Industry 90 Constitution 76 Westward Expansion 70 Modern America 67 Protest 66 Cold War 65 Civil War 64 Slavery 61 War 59 Revolution 59 Media & Press 57 Women 56 Indigenous 51 Diplomacy 47 Immigration 41 Labor 40 Environment 36 Congress 34 Colonial America 34 World War II 33 Supreme Court 33 Religion 33 Disaster 29 Exploration 27 Progressive Era 26 Public Health 25 Reconstruction 23 Abolition 22 Finance 22 Democracy 21 Gilded Age 19 Assassination 15 Education 15 Suffrage 11 World War I 9 Sports 9 Corruption 9 Prohibition 1