Earl Warren served as chief justice of the Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969. During this time, America experienced great change and turmoil, especially regarding civil rights. Warren believed it was the job of the Court to shape the moral and civil liberties by which the nation should grow in the second half of the twentieth century. Many of the Warren Court's rulings reflected that opinion. Some of his most recognized cases include Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Gideon v. Wainwright, Engel v. Vitale, and Miranda v. Arizona.

Warren's first case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), was indicative of how he would conduct the Court. In this major civil rights case, Linda Brown and her family alleged that Topeka's segregated school system deprived her of the equal protection required by the Fourteenth Amendment. Four other cases from the south were joined together to form this case. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), under the leadership of Walter White and advised by Charles Houston, became involved in the case and appointed Thurgood Marshall as the lead attorney. Marshall relentlessly chipped away at Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the case that set the precedent for legal segregation by declaring the doctrine of "separate but equal." After two sessions of oral arguments, the Court decided unanimously to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson and declared that all schools should be integrated with all deliberate speed.

The landmark case of Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) declared that all persons accused of any crime should be provided a lawyer by the state if they cannot afford one themselves. This case guaranteed that no one should go to jail without legal counsel, and it paved the way for the legal defense system that is in place in all states.

The controversial cases Engel v. Vitale (1963) and Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) ended Bible reading in public schools and instigated a battle among Americans about the separation of church and state. In Engel v. Vitale, a group of parents filed suit against the State Board of Regents of New York because it required students to recite a prayer at the beginning of each school day. They claimed that prayer in schools infringed on their First Amendment rights. The Court agreed and found New York's prayer recitation to be unconstitutional. Abington School District v. Schempp declared a Pennsylvania law that required students to read ten Bible verses at the beginning of class each day to be unconstitutional.

In Miranda v. Arizona (1963), Ernesto Miranda, who was arrested for kidnapping and assault, signed a confession without fully understanding his rights. After he was convicted, he appealed, claiming that his confession was illegally gained. The Court agreed and declared that all persons should be given their rights at the time of arrest to ensure that they know and understand their civil liberty rights. The Court reaffirmed the requirement of providing all persons with their Miranda Rights in Dickerson v. United States (2000). According to Chief Justice William Rehnquist, reading an arrested person his or her Miranda Rights "has become embedded in routine police practice to the point where the warnings have become part of our national culture."

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