June
Jun 1
1660

No Quakers Allowed in Massachusetts – Mary Dyer Hung for Her Religious Beliefs

 
1916

Louis Brandeis, Civil Liberties Giant, Joins Supreme Court

 
1925

Supreme Court Strikes Down Anti-Catholic Oregon School Law

 
1931

“Near v. Minnesota”: Landmark Freedom of the Press Decision

 
1942

Court Limits Sterilization of Offenders: “Skinner v. Oklahoma”

 
1950

Senator Margaret Chase Smith Denounces Joe McCarthy – And is Punished by GOP

Jun 2
1919

Anarchist Bombs in D.C. Provoke the Red Scare

 
1920

President Wilson Signs Smith-Fess Act; Early Disability Rights Victory

 
1924

Indian Citizenship Act Signed into Law

 
1932

Military Intelligence Spies on Bonus Army – Agents Hear “Voices of Jewish Accent”

 
1952

Supreme Court Overrules Truman: Limits Presidential Power in Steel Seizure Case

 
1958

Happy Anniversary! Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving Marry

 
2015

A First Step: Congress Curbs NSA Spying

 
2015

African-American Soldier Awarded Medal of Honor – 97 Years Late

Jun 3
1940

Supreme Court Upholds Compulsory Flag Salute – But Soon Reverses Itself

 
1943

“Zoot Suit” Riots: Latinos, Sailors, Police Clash

 
1946

Irene Morgan Wins Historic Court Victory Against Interstate Travel Segregation

 
1946

Withholding Federal Salaries an Unconstitutional Bill of Attainder

 
1957

You Can’t Read “Howl”! Publisher of Now-Classic Poem Arrested

 
1970

ACLU Calls Vietnam War Unconstitutional — Cites Lack of Declaration of War

 
2009

New Hampshire Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

 
2013

ACLU Report Condemns “War on Marijuana”

Jun 4
1917

President Wilson, Cabinet Approve Vigilante American Protective League

 
1922

Will Hays Tells Film Industry to “Purify” Itself

 
1923

Meyer: A Constitutional Right of Parents to Control their Children’s Education

 
1928

Historic Louis Brandeis Dissent on Privacy: “Olmstead v. United States”

 
1938

Socialist, Civil Libertarian Norman Thomas Forcibly Evicted From Jersey City

 
1951

Smith Act Held Constitutional: Severe Blow to First Amendment

 
1965

President Johnson Outlines New Civil Rights Challenges

 
1974

“The List” is Ended: President Nixon Abolishes the Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations

 
1985

Alabama “Moment of Silence” Law Unconstitutional

 
1998

“Driving While Black” – Racial Profiling Crisis Erupts

Jun 5
1920

Women’s Bureau is Created

 
1939

Freedom of Assembly! Supreme Court Rules in Famous “Hague” Case

 
1950

Supreme Court Holds Racially Segregated Railway Dining Cars Illegal

 
1950

Univ. Texas Law School Must Admit African-American: “Sweatt v. Painter”

 
1970

President Nixon Demands Action on Anti-War Protests: Abuses Follow

 
1981

CDC Releases First Report on HIV / AIDS

 
2013

First Snowden-Related Stories Published: Massive NSA Spying Exposed

Jun 6
1936

Senate Launches Investigation of Violations of Free Speech and Rights of Labor

 
1947

Gary, Indiana, Schools to End Racial Segregation

 
1949

An Ominous, Prophetic Vision: Orwell’s Novel “1984” Published

 
1961

Notre Dame President Hesburgh: Civil Rights More Important Than Anti-Communism

 
1966

“March Against Fear” in Mississippi Begins; James Meredith Shot and Wounded

 
1980

Conflict Sinks Carter White House Conference on the Family

 
2013

Washington Post Exposes Secret NSA PRISM Spying Program

Jun 7
1892

Homer Plessy Boards East Louisiana Railroad Car – Trip Ends at Supreme Court

 
1935

Columbia University Medical Center Fires Six Pacifists; Univ. President Butler Declines Comment

 
1965

A Constitutional Right to Privacy: “Griswold v. Connecticut”

 
1971

“Fuck the Draft” Ruled Protected Speech

 
1977

Miami Gay Rights Ordinance Repealed

 
2020

Massive Protests of Police Killings Marked by Attacks on News Media

Jun 8
1925

“Gitlow:” Supreme Court Incorporates Free Speech Clause into 14th Amendment

 
1935

Young Nazi Guilty of Posting Inflammatory Sign; Hate Speech Controversy Ahead

 
1949

Frank Sinatra Denounces Political Smears by California Un-American Activities Committee

 
1953

Supreme Court Orders Desegregation of Washington, D.C. Restaurants

 
1975

Attorney General Levi: Presidents Have No Authority to Order Assassinations

 
1992

Court Upholds Professor’s Free Speech Rights on African-American Inferiority

Jun 9
1954

“Have You No Decency?” Joseph N. Welch Rebukes Senator Joe McCarthy

 
1961

Berkeley Bans Activist Student Organization — Free Speech Movement Ahead

 
1963

Fannie Lou Hamer, Civil Rights Activist, Savagely Beaten in Mississippi Jail

 
1964

CIA Pressures Publisher of Second-Ever Book on Agency

 
1969

Brandenburg: First Amendment Protects Advocacy of Violence – But Not Incitement to Imminent Lawless Action

Jun 10
1692

Bridget Bishop Hanged; First Victim of Salem Witch Trials

 
1917

American Jewish Congress Founded

 
1955

Censorship Office: Film on Famous Scopes Trial “Unfair” to “Religious-Thinking People”

 
1963

President Kennedy Signs Equal Pay Act

 
1964

Historic Filibuster Ends – Path Cleared for 1964 Civil Rights Act

 
1968

Supreme Court Okays Police Stops and Frisks

 
1968

Taxpayers Can Sue the Government Over Unconstitutional Practices

 
1999

Supreme Court Declares Chicago Anti-Gang Law Unconstitutional

Jun 11
1922

Joint Amnesty Committee Formed to Seek Release of Imprisoned WWI Dissidents

 
1946

Official Secrecy: Administrative Procedure Act Exempts “Secrets” From Public Disclosure

 
1956

Federal Loyalty Program Ruled Not Applicable to Non-Sensitive Jobs

 
1959

“Lady Chatterley’s Lover” Banned From the Mails

 
1963

George Wallace “Stands in the Schoolhouse Door” to Block Integration; Then Steps Aside

 
1963

President Kennedy Calls for Immigration Law Reform

 
1963

President Kennedy Gives Historic Civil Rights Speech on National Television

 
1970

Rep. Martha Griffiths Forces Proposed ERA Amendment Out of Committee

 
1990

Supreme Court Declares Federal Flag Burning Law Unconstitutional: U.S. v. Eichman

Jun 12
1929

First Lady Lou Henry Hoover Invites African-American to White House Tea – Racist Uproar Follows

 
1948

Women’s Armed Services Integration Act is Passed

 
1956

“You Are the Un-Americans:” Paul Robeson Denounces HUAC

 
1963

Mississippi Civil Rights Leader Medgar Evers Shot and Killed

 
1967

A Loving Victory: Supreme Court Rules Ban on Interracial Marriage Unconstitutional

 
2008

“Boumediene v. Bush”: Habeas Corpus Extends to Foreign Nationals

Jun 13
1934

Notorious Movie Censorship Code Adopted

 
1937

“Cradle Will Rock” Defies Government Censorship, Opens in Different Theater

 
1956

Court Orders Montgomery, Alabama, Buses Desegregated

 
1966

“You Have a Right to Remain Silent:” The Famous Miranda Decision

 
1971

Vietnam War Secrets Revealed: New York Times Publishes the Pentagon Papers

 
2005

Senate Apologizes for Never Passing Anti-Lynching Law

 
2013

Supreme Court: You Can’t Patent Our Genes!

Jun 14
1922

5,000 March Silently Past the White House to Protest Lynching

 
1943

You Can’t Be Compelled to Salute the Flag: “West Virginia v. Barnette”

 
1951

Joe McCarthy Attacks American War Hero, Gen. George C. Marshall

 
1953

“Don’t Join the Book Burners:” Ike Indirectly Criticizes Joe McCarthy, Then Quickly Backtracks

 
1954

“Under God” Added to Pledge of Allegiance

 
1968

Dr. Spock, Three Others Convicted of Conspiracy to Obstruct the Draft

 
1993

President Clinton Nominates Ruth Bader Ginsburg for Supreme Court

 
1997

President Clinton Launches Initiative on Race – Effort Fails

Jun 15
1215

The Magna Carta is Signed

 
1917

Espionage Act Passes – Instrument of World War I Suppression of Dissent

 
1964

Supreme Court Establishes “One Man, One Vote” Rule

 
1967

Governor Reagan Signs Liberal California Abortion Law – Then Regrets It

 
1971

Injunction Stops Publication of Pentagon Papers – Landmark Court Case Ahead

 
2012

DACA Begins: President Obama Signs Deferred Action Memorandum

 
2012

Obama Hosts First-Ever Gay Pride Reception at White House

Jun 16
1915

University of Pennsylvania Fires Scott Nearing Over Radical Economic Views

 
1918

Eugene V. Debs Gives Anti-War Speech – Gets 10 Years in Prison

 
1921

Atlantic City Beach Scene Rejected by New York State Film Censors

 
1958

Supreme Court Affirms The Right to Travel

 
1961

Freedom Ride Leader Diane Nash Rebuffs AG Robert Kennedy

 
1966

“Black Power!” A Slogan is Born

 
1967

LBJ Orders No Wiretapping — Sort Of

Jun 17
1954

“Operation Wetback” Begins: Latinos Deported

 
1957

“Red Monday” – Supreme Court Limits Anti-Communist Measures

 
1963

Bible Reading in Public Schools Ruled Unconstitutional

 
1967

Secretary of Defense McNamara Authorizes Pentagon Papers

 
1971

Jeanne M. Holm Promoted, First Woman Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force

 
1972

Watergate Break-in, Arrests – Famous Scandal Begins

 
2012

Silent Marches Protest Police “Stop and Frisk” Policies

 
2016

Lost NYC Police Spying Files Found in Queens

Jun 18
1941

Civil Rights Leader A. Philip Randolph Confronts FDR in the White House — Wins EEO Order

 
1942

WW II Internment: “If They Do That to One Group, They Can Do it to Other Groups”

 
1948

CIA Gets Covert Action Authority

 
1957

HUAC Chair to Supreme Court: “Bone Up on Communism”

 
1977

President Carter Puts Foot in Mouth – Calls Same-Sex Relationships “Not Normal”

 
2013

We Want “The Whole Haystack” – Administration Official Explains Surveillance Philosophy

Jun 19
1939

American Library Association Adopts Library Bill of Rights

 
1953

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg Executed – Case Filled With Civil Liberties Problems

 
1958

Joe Papp, Future Theater Great, Takes the Fifth Before HUAC – Is Fired by CBS

 
1961

Justice Harlan II’s Historic Dissent on a Right to Privacy

 
1961

Exclusionary Rule for the Police: “Mapp v. Ohio”

 
1961

Religious Test For Political Office Ruled Unconstitutional

 
1968

First Federal Wiretapping Law Enacted; President Johnson Objects in Signing Statement

 
1970

2nd Circuit: Legality of Vietnam War a “Political Question,” Not a Constitutional Issue

 
1972

Supreme Court: Fourth Amendment Applies to Domestic Surveillance

 
1986

Supreme Court Recognizes Sexual Harassment as Violation of Title VII

 
1987

“Creationism” Violates Separation of Church and State

Jun 20
1943

Detroit Race Riot Paralyzes City, Threatens War Effort

 
1949

Congress Explicitly Grants Secrecy to the CIA

 
1964

Lesbian Conference Hears Two Drs. Challenge Idea that Homosexuality is a Disease

 
1966

Republican Rep. Donald Rumsfeld Declares Support for FOIA Bill

 
1979

“Pen Registers” Not a Search: “Smith v. Maryland”

 
2002

Executing Mentally Retarded People Unconstitutional

Jun 21
1915

“Grandfather” Clauses Unconstitutional

 
1943

Hirabayashi: Supreme Court Upholds Japanese-American Curfew

 
1946

United Nations Establishes Commission on the Status of Women

 
1956

Playwright Arthur Miller Testifies Before HUAC – Refuses to Name Names

 
1963

University of California Repeals Decades-Old Speaker Ban

 
1964

Mississippi Freedom Summer Project Begins – Three Civil Rights Workers Murdered

 
1973

Help Wanted: Sex-Segregated Want Ads Unconstitutional

 
1973

Supreme Court Develops “Miller Test” on Obscenity

 
1989

Supreme Court Rules Texas Flag-Burning Law Unconstitutional

 
1990

Teens Burn Cross; Hate Crime Case Goes to Supreme Court

 
2005

Klan Member Convicted for 1964 Murder of Three Civil Rights Workers in Mississippi

Jun 22
1918

Philosopher John Dewey Sees Social Benefits of War

 
1944

FDR Signs GI Bill of Rights

 
1950

“Red Channels” Report Names Alleged Communists, Leads to Blacklisting

 
1963

President Kennedy Pressures Dr. Martin Luther King to Fire Alleged Communist Associates, Fails

 
1963

President Kennedy Tries, Fails to Get Civil Rights Leaders to Cancel March on Washington

 
1964

Pornography? Justice Stewart Knows It When He Sees It

 
1964

Escobedo: A Right to Counsel During Police Interrogations

 
1964

“Tropic of Cancer” Ruled Not Obscene

 
1966

LBJ Signs Bail Reform Act – Affirms Rights of Criminal Suspects

 
1970

18-Year-Olds Get Right to Vote– But Not Quite Yet

Jun 23
1947

Congress Overrides Truman Veto, Passes Taft-Hartley “Slave-labor Bill”

 
1947

Justice Black Argues for Total Incorporation of the Bill of Rights

 
1955

Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Rebuffs President Eisenhower Over Segregated National Guard

 
1958

Eisenhower Meets with Four Civil Rights Leaders in the White House – Nothing Results

 
1972

Nixon White House “Smoking Gun” Meeting; Nixon Obstructs Justice

 
1972

Women’s Sports Boosted – Title IX Signed Into Law

 
2003

Supreme Court Issues Mixed Decisions on Univ. Michigan Affirmative Action Plans

 
2015

Stonewall Inn, Center of Birth of Lesbian and Gay Rights Movement, Gains Landmark Status

 
2016

Supreme Court Upholds University of Texas Affirmative Action Plan

Jun 24
1954

New York State Bar Association: Disbar Members of Subversive Organizations

 
1957

Obscenity Not Protected by the First Amendment: “Roth v. United States”

 
1960

Senator John F. Kennedy Praises Sit-Ins

 
2011

New York State Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

Jun 25
1910

Congress Passes Mann Act to Combat “White Slavery”

 
1941

FDR Signs First-Ever Equal Employment Opportunity Order

 
1962

Prayer in Public School Unconstitutional: “Engel v. Vitale”

 
1963

North Carolina Passes Campus Speaker Ban

 
1974

Supreme Court Rejects Taxpayer Challenge to CIA Secrecy

 
1974

U.S. Flag with Peace Symbol is Protected Speech

 
1982

Public School Library Censorship: “Island Trees v. Pico”

 
1997

Religious Freedom Restoration Act Held Unconstitutional

 
2009

No Strip Searches of Middle School Students!

 
2013

Supreme Court Guts Voting Rights Act: “Shelby County v. Holder”

 
2015

Supreme Court Affirms Federal Fair Housing Law

Jun 26
1950

Anti-Communist Congress for Cultural Freedom Formed

 
1956

“One Pro-Communist Decision After Another:” Right-Wingers Attack Supreme Court

 
1975

You Can’t Detain Non-Dangerous Mentally Ill People: “O’Connor v. Donaldson”

 
1996

VMI Ordered to Admit Women

 
1997

Communications Decency Act Held Unconstitutional

 
1997

International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

 
2003

Anti-Sodomy Laws Unconstitutional: “Lawrence v. Texas”

 
2007

Full CIA “Family Jewels” Report Released

 
2013

Same-Sex Marriage Victory: Supreme Court Declares DOMA Unconstitutional

 
2015

Same-Sex Marriage Constitutional ! – Supreme Court Rules

 
2018

Chief Justice Roberts Condemns Notorious Korematsu Decision, But Does Not Overrule It

Jun 27
1949

Supreme Court Refuses to Apply Exclusionary Rule to the States

 
1952

Subversives Out! Repressive McCarran-Walter Immigration Act Signed

 
1962

President Kennedy Supports Court Ban on Prayer in Schools

 
1970

First Gay Pride Parade Held in Chicago

 
1973

Reporter Daniel Schorr Reads Nixon’s “Enemies List” on National TV – Finds His Own Name on It

 
2002

Court Upholds Mandatory Drug Testing for Students

 
2011

Supreme Court Invalidates California Video Games Censorship Law

 
2013

“Stellar Wind:” NSA Spied on Americans Illegally from 2001 to 2011

 
2014

NSA Head Admits “Sky Isn’t Falling” Because of Snowden-related Leaks

 
2016

Supreme Court Strikes Down Extreme Texas Abortion Law; Finds “Undue Burden” on Women

Jun 28
1957

President Eisenhower Marks Islamic Religious Freedom in America

 
1962

John Henry Faulk Wins $3.5 Million Damages Award for Being Blacklisted

 
1969

Stonewall Inn Riots – Lesbian, Gay Rights Movement Born

 
1970

First Gay Liberation Day (Gay Pride March) in New York City

 
1971

Supreme Court Invalidates State “Parochaid” to Religious Schools

 
1971

Supreme Court Upholds Muhammad Ali’s Conscientious Objector Claim

 
1978

“Bakke:” Supreme Court OKs Affirmative Action, But Not Rigid Quotas

 
2004

“Rasul:” Supreme Court Limits Bush’s War on Terror

 
2004

“War Is Not a Blank Check for the President”: Supreme Court Rebukes Bush Administration

 
2007

Supreme Court Guts Race-Based School Integration Plans

Jun 29
1940

Advocating an Idea is Illegal: Smith Act Passed

 
1947

Truman First President to Address NAACP

 
1950

President Truman Calls U.S. Role in Korean War a “Police Action” – But No Such Concept Exists in International Law

 
1972

Supreme Court Rules Death Penalty as Applied is Unconstitutional

 
1992

Supreme Court Preserves Right to Abortion; Defines “Undue Burden” Standard

 
2006

“Hamdan:” Bush Military Commissions Violate Laws of War

 
2015

Justices Breyer and Ginsburg Question Constitutionality of the Death Penalty

Jun 30
1941

AG Biddle Creates First List of “Subversive” Organizations

 
1958

Supreme Court Establishes Right of Freedom of Association

 
1958

Supreme Court: No Loyalty Oath for Veterans Benefits

 
1960

NYCLU to Defend Free Speech Rights of Top American Nazi

 
1965

President Johnson Bans Wiretapping – Sort Of

 
1966

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is Founded

 
1971

Landmark Freedom of the Press Victory: Supreme Court Strikes Down Pentagon Papers Injunction

 
1976

Freedom of the Press: Courts Can’t Suppress Trial News Coverage

 
1980

No Federal Funding of Abortion: Harris v. McRea

 
1982

President Reagan Signs 25-Year Extension of Voting Rights Act

 
1986

Supreme Court Upholds Anti-Sodomy Laws

 
2014

Hobby Lobby: Corporations Have Religious Rights

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Abortion Rights ACLU african-americans Alice Paul anti-communism Anti-Communist Hysteria Birth Control Brown v. Board of Education Censorship CIA Civil Rights Civil Rights Act of 1964 Cold War Espionage Act FBI First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment freedom of speech Free Speech Gay Rights Hate Speech homosexuality Hoover, J. Edgar HUAC Japanese American Internment King, Dr. Martin Luther Ku Klux Klan Labor Unions Lesbian and Gay Rights Loyalty Oaths McCarthy, Sen. Joe New York Times Obscenity Police Misconduct Same-Sex Marriage Separation of Church and State Sex Discrimination Smith Act Spying Spying on Americans Vietnam War Voting Rights Voting Rights Act of 1965 War on Terror Watergate White House Women's Rights Women's Suffrage World War I World War II Relocation Camps

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