1. R C S D I T
Landmark Supreme
Court Cases

2. Marbury v Madison 1803
Judicial Review
Marbury v. Madison, arguably the most important case
in Supreme Court history, was the first U.S. Supreme
Court case to apply the principle of "judicial review" --
the power of federal courts to void acts of Congress in
conflict with the Constitution. Written in 1803 by Chief
Justice John Marshall, the decision played a key role in
making the Supreme Court a separate branch of
government on par with Congress and the executive.

3. McCulloch v Maryland 1819
“Elastic Clause”
In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) the Supreme Court
ruled that Congress had implied powers under the
Necessary and Proper Clause of Article I, Section 8 of
the Constitution to create the Second Bank of the
United States and that the state of Maryland lacked
the power to tax the Bank. Arguably Chief Justice John
Marshall's finest opinion, McCulloch not only gave
Congress broad discretionary power to implement the
enumerated powers, but also repudiated, in ringing
language, the radical states' rights arguments
presented by counsel for Maryland.

4. Gibbons v Ogden 1824
Supremacy of National Laws
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) vastly expanded the powers
of Congress through a single clause in the Constitution:
the Commerce Clause of Article I, Section 8. The Court
ruled that under that clause Congress had powers to
regulate any aspect of commerce that crossed state
lines, including modes of transportation, and that such
regulation preempted conflicting regulation by the
states. Since Gibbons, the Commerce Clause has
provided the basis for sweeping congressional power
over a multitude of national issues.

5. Dred Scott v Sanford 1857
Slaves are property
Blacks are not citizens
In Dred Scott v. Sandford (argued 1856 -- decided
1857), the Supreme Court ruled that Americans of
African descent, whether free or slave, were not
American citizens and could not sue in federal court.
The Court also ruled that Congress lacked power to
ban slavery in the U.S. territories. Finally, the Court
declared that the rights of slaveowners were
constitutionally protected by the Fifth Amendment
because slaves were categorized as property.

6. Plessy v Ferguson 1896
Separate but Equal
In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court
considered the constitutionality of a Louisiana law
passed in 1890 "providing for separate railway carriages
for the white and colored races." The law, which
required that all passenger railways provide separate
cars for blacks and whites, stipulated that the cars be
equal in facilities, banned whites from sitting in black
cars and blacks in white cars (with exception to "nurses
attending children of the other race"), and penalized
passengers or railway employees for violating its terms.

7. Schenck v US 1919
Limits Free Speech
In Schenck v. United States (1919), the Supreme Court
invented the famous "clear and present danger" test to
determine when a state could constitutionally limit an
individual's free speech rights under the First
Amendment. In reviewing the conviction of a man
charged with distributing provocative flyers to draftees
of World War I, the Court asserted that, in certain
contexts, words can create a "clear and present
danger" that Congress may constitutionally prohibit.
While the ruling has since been overturned, Schenck is
still significant for creating the context-based
balancing tests used in reviewing freedom of speech
challenges.

8. Korematsu v US 1944
Limit Civil Liberties During War
Early in World War II, on February 19, 1942, President
Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, granting
the U.S. military the power to ban tens of thousands of
American citizens of Japanese ancestry from areas
deemed critical to domestic security. Promptly exercising
the power so bestowed, the military then issued an order
banning "all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and
non-alien" from a designated coastal area stretching from
Washington State to southern Arizona, and hastily set up
internment camps to hold the Japanese Americans for
the duration of the war. In defiance of the order, Fred
Korematsu, an American-born citizen of Japanese
descent, refused to leave his home in San Leandro,
California. Duly convicted, he appealed, and in 1944 his
case reached the Supreme Court. A 6-3 majority on the
Court upheld Korematsu's conviction.

9. Brown v Board of Education 1954
Desegregates schools
Overturns Plessy v Ferguson
Brown v. Board of Education (1954), now
acknowledged as one of the greatest Supreme Court
decisions of the 20th century, unanimously held that
the racial segregation of children in public schools
violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment. Although the decision did not succeed
in fully desegregating public education in the United
States, it put the Constitution on the side of racial
equality and galvanized the nascent civil rights
movement into a full revolution.

10. Engel v Vitale 1962
Prayer in School Violates the 1st Amendment
This case determined that it is unconstitutional for
state officials to compose an official school
prayer and encourage its recitation in public
schools. The case was brought by the families of
public school students in New Hyde Park, New
York who complained that the voluntary prayer
written by the state board of regents to "Almighty
God" contradicted their religious beliefs. They
were supported by groups opposed to the school
prayer including rabbinical organizations, Ethical
Culture, and Judaic organizations.

11. Gideon v Wainwright 1963
Right to Lawyer
In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the Supreme Court
ruled that the Constitution requires the states to
provide defense attorneys to criminal defendants
charged with serious offenses who cannot afford
lawyers themselves.

12. Miranda v Arizona 1966
Police must Inform Accused of their Rights
In Miranda v. Arizona (1966), the Supreme Court ruled
that detained criminal suspects, prior to police
questioning, must be informed of their constitutional
right to an attorney and against self-incrimination.

13. Roe v Wade 1971
Gave Women the Right to Abortion
Roe v. Wade (1973) ruled unconstitutional a state law
that banned abortions except to save the life of the
mother. The Court ruled that the states were forbidden
from outlawing or regulating any aspect of abortion
performed during the first trimester of pregnancy,
could only enact abortion regulations reasonably
related to maternal health in the second and third
trimesters, and could enact abortion laws protecting
the life of the fetus only in the third trimester. Even then,
an exception had to be made to protect the life of the
mother.

14. New York Times v US
Freedom of the press
National security not threatened by Pentagon Papers
This ruling made it possible for the New York Times
and Washington Post newspapers to publish the
then-classified Pentagon Papers without risk of
government censorship or punishment.
President Richard Nixon had claimed executive
authority to force the Times to suspend publication
of classified information in its possession. The question
before the court was whether the constitutional
freedom of the press, guaranteed by the First
Amendment, was subordinate to a claimed need of
the executive branch of government to maintain the
secrecy of information. The Supreme Court ruled that
the First Amendment did protect the right of the New
York Times to print the materials.

15. Regents of U of California v Bakke 1978
Affirmative Action Programs Constitutional
In Regents of University of California v. Bakke
(1978), the Supreme Court ruled that a university's
use of racial "quotas" in its admissions process was
unconstitutional, but a school's use of "affirmative
action" to accept more minority applicants was
constitutional in some circumstances.