List of Supreme Court Cases

List of Supreme Court Cases

**highlighted= important cases that should be memorized

John Peter Zenger case: foreshadowed freedom of the press

John Marshall

Marbury v. Madison(1803): judicial review (Supreme court has the power to declare whether or not legislative/executive actions are constitutional)

Fletcher v. Peck (1810): states could not encroach on contracts

DartmouthCollege v. Woodward(1819): state cannot nullify/amend legal contracts

Cohens v. Virginia (1821): Supreme had authority to review decisions in courts of individual states

McCulloch v. Maryland(1819): “loose construction” & Bank of U.S. are constitutional

Gibbons v. Ogden(1824): only Congress can regulate interstate commerce

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia(1831):U.S. cannot remove Cherokee because they are a separate nation

Worcester v. Georgia(1832):Georgia cannot force its laws on independent Cherokee

Roger B. Taney

The Charles RiverBridge Case: (1837) a contract could be broken to benefit the general welfare

Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842): legalized labor unions

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857): declared Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, state legislatures/Congress cannot outlaw slavery and that slaves are not citizens

Slaughterhouse cases(1873): 14th amendment did not protect citizens from state infringements on their rights

U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876): national government could not punish someone for violating civil rights of individuals (only states can)

U.S. v. Reese (1876): 15th amendment did not automatically protect right of African Americans to vote

Civil Rights cases (1883): 14thamendment is only applied to discrimination by government

Munn v. Illinois(1877): upheld Granger Laws & allowed states to regulate businesses within border

Wabash Case (1886)- only fed. can regulate interstate commerce, undid the ruling of the Munn v, Illinoiscase

Plessy v. Feguson (1896): “separate but equal”

Insular Cases(1901):people in newly acquired land = not same constitutional rights as Americans at home

Muller v. Oregon(1908): ruled that women needed special protection in the workplace

Lochner v. New York (1905): struck down 10-hour workday for bakers

Bunting v. Oregon (1917): 10-hour workday for men upheld

U.S. v. Schenck (1919) ruled that speech (freedom) may be suppressed if it creates a clear and present danger; upheld Espionage Act of 1917

Adkins v. Children’s Hospital (1923): reversed Muller v. Oregon—women do not need protection at work

Schechter v. United States (1935): declared the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of the New Deal was unconstitutional

Korematsu v. U.S. (1944): upheld the constitutionality of Japanese internment camps during World War II

Morgan v. Virginia (1946): segregation on interstate buses= unconstitutional

Sweatt v. Painter(1950): black professional schools were not equal to white ones

Dennis v. U.S. (1951): upheld the constitutionality of the peacetime sedition act during Second Red Scare (Smith Act)

Earl Warren

Brown v. Board of Educationof Topeka, KS(1954): ruled that segregation in public schools was illegal

Mapp v. Ohio (1961): evidence obtained illegally cannot be used in court

Engel v. Vitale (1962)School District of Abington Township v. Schempp (1963): found it unconstitutional for public schools to have an official prayer

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) provided criminal defendants with counsel even if they couldn’t afford it

Reynolds v. Simms (1964): forbade creative district lines that made some people’s votes weight more than others; “one person, one vote”—shifted balance of power from rural to urban districts

Heart of Atlanta Model v. U.S. (1964) upheld the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination in public places

Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) struck down state law banning contraceptive use as a “right of privacy” & established a general right to privacy

Baker v. Carr(1962): political question would be heard; enable federal courts to intervene in and decide reapportionment cases

Escobedo v. Illinois (1964): a police must honor a person’s request to have an attorney present during interrogation

Miranda v. Arizona(1966): an arrested person must be told his/her rights

Warren E. Burger

Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971): busing may be used to achieve racial balance in schools where segregation had been an official policy and no alternative plan was provided

Griggs v. Power Co.(1971): prohibited things like intelligence tests that limited minorities in some fields

Reed v. Reed(1971): cannot discriminate between sexes in hiring

Furman v. Georgia (1972): the death penalty was unconstitutional unless fairly applied

Frontiero v. Richardson(1973): benefits given by military to family of service members cannot be given out different based on gender

Roe v. Wade (1973): first trimester abortions were permitted, based on a woman’s right to privacy

Milliken v. Bradley(1974): officials could not force students across district lines while integrating schools

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978): banned the use of affirmative action policies in the college admissions process; paradoxically however, allowed colleges to use race to even out demographics

Ward’s Cove Packing v. Arizona (1989)Martin v. Wilks (1989): made it harder to prove a company practiced racial discrimination in hiring & easier for white to prove reverse discrimination in hiring

Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989): states allowed to impose restrictions on abortion

Rust v. Sullivan (1991): doctors in government-sponsored clinics= prevented from providing women with information about abortion, even if life of mother in danger

Planned Parenthood v. Casey(1992): states can restrict access to an abortion if it did not place “undue burden” on the mother