Landmark Cases of the US Supreme Court

• Marbury v. Madison (1803)


  The United States Supreme court established Judicial Review, the power of the courts to declare a law unconstitutional.
• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)


  The Supreme Court upheld the power of the national government and denied the right of a state to tax the federal bank using the Constitution's supremacy clause. The Court's broad interpretation of the necessary and proper clause paved the way for later ruling upholding expansive federal powers.
• Korematsu v. United States(1944)


  Emergency Power of the President The Supreme Court upheld President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the government's forceful removal of 120,000 people of Japanese descent, 70,000 of them U.S. citizens, from their homes on the West Coast to internment camps in remote areas of western and midwestern states during World War II.
• United States v. Nixon (1974)


  Executive Privilege and Limits The Supreme Court ruled that, while presidents do have a right under the separations of powers to claim executive privilege, the right is absolute. In doing so the Court limited executive privilege.
• U.S. v. Lopez (1995)


  The Supreme Court struct down an act of the U.S. Congress, the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act because it violated the Constitution. The court found that Congress was overreached its powers granted under the commerce clause.
• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)


  Supreme Court decision that stated that slaves were not citizens; and that living in a free state or territory, did not free slaves.
• Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)


  Supreme Court decision that ruled separate but equal public accommodations for the races was not in violation of the 14th Amendment and allowed for Jim Crow laws. The dissent by Justice Harlan, would provide the foundation for Brown v. Board of Education.
• Brown v. Board (1954)


  The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson and declared that racially segregated schools are inherently unequal and violated the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court ordered all public desegregated.
• Baker v. Carr (1962)


  The Supreme Court established the right of federal courts to review redistricting issues, which had previously been termed "political questions" outside the courts' jurisdiction. This decision was based upon the 14th Amendment guarantee of Equal Protect under the law.
• Shaw v. Reno (1993)


  The Supreme Court held that when a Congressional reapportionment plan is "so highly irregular that, on its face, it rationally cannot be understood as anything other than an effort to segregate voters on the basis of race," courts must view that plan under strict scrutiny.
• Bush v. Gore (2000)


  The Supreme Court ruled that manual recounts of presidential ballots in the Nov. 2000 election could not proceed because of inconsistent evaluation in violation of the 14th Amendment guarantee of Equal Protection under the law.
• Engel v. Vitale (1962)


  The Supreme Court held that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibited prayer in public schools. The prayer created by the New York State Board of Regents violated the Constitutionally requirement of separation of church and state.
• Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)


  The Supreme Court that held individual's interests in the free exercise of religion under the First Amendment outweighed the State's interests in compelling school attendance beyond the eighth grade. The Court found the values and programs of secondary school were "in sharp conflict with the fundamental mode of life mandated by the Amish religion."
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)


  The Supreme Court overturned a state law requiring a flag salute as an unconstitutional infringement on First Amendment freedoms of Jehovah's Witness students.
• Schenck v. U.S.(1919)


  The Supreme Court created the "clear and present danger" standard, which explains when speech may be limited due to the consequences of that speech.
• Tinker v. Des Moines (1968)


  The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment right to free speech applied to public schools, and those administrators would have to demonstrate constitutionally valid reasons for any specific regulation of speech in the classroom. Students have the right to symbolic speech at school as long as it is not disruptive, as protected under the 1st amendment.
• Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988)


  The U.S. Supreme Court held for the first time that public schools can limit what appears in school-sponsored student publications.
• Texas v. Johnson (1989)


  The Supreme Court struck down a Texas law banning the burning of the American flag on the grounds that such action was symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment.
• Citizens United v. FEC (2010)


  The Supreme Court held that corporations are citizens under the First Amendment and that laws which limit the "independent political spending" from corporations and other groups violated the First Amendment right to free speech.
• District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)


  The Supreme Court struck down a law created by the District of Columbia, finding that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense in the home.
• McDonald v. Chicago (2010)


  The Supreme Court found a state law unconstitutional and struck it down because it violated the Second Amendment right of individuals to possess a firearm.
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961)


  Evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures," may not be used in criminal prosecutions in state court or federal courts. This is known as the "Exclusionary Rule."
• Miranda v. Arizona (1966)


  The Supreme Court ruled the 5th Amendment requires that individuals arrested for a crime must be advised of their rights, including the right to consult with an attorney and of the right against self-incrimination, prior to interrogation.
• Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)


  The Supreme Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment requires that states must provide counsel in all felony criminal cases for defendants who are unable to afford their own attorneys.
• Roe v. Wade (1973)


  The Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that prohibited abortions finding that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is fundamental to the "right to privacy," which protects a pregnant woman's choice whether to have an abortion. The court also found that this right needed to be balanced against the government's interests in protecting women's health and "the potentiality of human life."