Established supremacy of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws over state laws. Based on Supremacy Clause.
United States v. Lopez (1995)
Congress may not use the commerce clause to make possession of a gun in a school zone a federal crime.
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
School sponsorship of religious activities violates the establishment clause
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
Compelling Amish students to attend school past the eighth grade violates the freeexercise clause
Tinker v. DesMoines Independent Community School District (1969)
Public school students have the
right to wear blackarmbands in school to protest the VietnamWar, 1st amendment symbolicspeech.
NewYorkTimesCo. v. UnitedStates (1971)
Bolstered the freedomofthepress, establishing a
"heavy presumption against prior restraint" even in cases involving nationalsecurity
Schenck v. UnitedStates (1919)
Speech creating a "clear and present danger" is not protected by the FirstAmendment
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Guaranteed the right to an attorney for the poor or indigent in a statefelony case, 6th amendment-right to counsel
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Extended the right of privacy to a woman'sdecision to have an abortion, right to privacy implied by the billofrights (3,4,5 &9)
McDonald v. Chicago (2010)
The SecondAmendment right to keep and beararms for self-defense is applicable to the states
Brown v. BoardofEducation (1954)
Race-based school segregation violates the equalprotection clause of the 14thamendment
CitizensUnited v. FederalElectionCommission (2010)
Political spending by corporations,
associations and labor unions is a form of protectedspeech under the First Amendment
Baker v. Carr (1961)
Opened the door to equal protection challenges to redistricting and the
development of the "one person, one vote" doctrine by ruling that challenges to redistricting did not raise "political questions" that would keep federal courts from reviewing such challenges. 14thamendmentequalprotectionclause.
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
Majorityminority districts, created under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, may be
constitutionally challenged by voters if race is the only factor used in creating the district
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Established the principle of judicialreview empowering the Supreme
Court to nullify an act of the legislative or executive branch that violates the Constitution