Alabama & SCOTUS

iPad / Education

There have been many significant Supreme Court cases, which changed the course of modern American history, which originated in Alabama. For Alabama's Bicentennial celebration, the Alabama Bicentennial Commission and Dr. Steven P. Brown, professor of Political Science at Auburn University, selected eight (8) Alabama cases which profoundly affected American constitutional law. These include the Scottsboro Boys case, New York Times v. Sullivan and Gomillion v. Lightfoot. Each case led to landmark rulings that established or enhanced fundamental rights and continue to guide our understanding of American law.

This app was created by Backstory Educational Media and QuietPixel, Inc. to accompany a unique exhibit called "Alabama Justice: The Cases and Faces That Changed a Nation", which has been traveling around Alabama. With this app you can dig deep into each of the eight cases. You will see a timeline of historical legal decisions that affected the litigations. Each case includes detailed notes, which describe why the case was constitutionally important. And, each case includes a short recording of oral arguments made before the Supreme Court. These restored and cleaned up recordings include the voices of famous individuals like Chief Justice Warren Burger, Justice Rehnquist, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (before her appointment to the court), Archibald Cox, Jr. (Solicitor General of the United States), NAACP attorney Robert L. Carter, and a recording of Justice Hugo L. Black discussing his interpretative approach to the Bill of Rights.

The Alabama Justice exhibit, and this app, was sponsored by the Alabama 200 Commission, Alabama Department of Archives and History, Alabama Humanities Foundation and Auburn University, with support from the Alabama Bench and Bar Historical Society.