Marbury v. Madison (1803)
The justices held, through Marshall's forceful argument, that on the last issue the Constitution was "the fundamental and paramount law of the nation" and that "an act of of the legislature repugnant to the constitution is void." In other words, when the
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
In a unanimous decision, the Court held that Congress had the power to incorporate the bank under Article 1, Section 8 (the "necessary and proper clause") and that Maryland could not tax instruments of the national government employed in the execution of
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
The New York law was invalid by virtue of the Supremacy Clause. The unanimous Court found that New York's licensing requirement for out-of-state operators was inconsistent with a congressional act regulating the coasting trade, which was a form of interst
Dredd Scott v. Sandford (1857)
Writing for the Court, Chief Justice Tawney stated that any person descended from Africans, whether slave or free, is not a citizen of the United States, according to the Constitution. Thus, Scott lacked legal standing to sue for his freedom in Federal Co
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
No, the state law is within constitutional boundaries. The majority, in an opinion authored by Justice Henry Billings Brown, upheld state-imposed racial segregation. The justices based their decision on the separate-but-equal doctrine, that separate facil
Lochner v. New York (1905)
The Court invalidated the New York law. The majority (through Peckham) maintained that the statue interfered with the freedom of contract, and thus the Fourteenth Amendment's right to liberty afforded to employer and employee. The Court viewed the statue
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
The Supreme Court held that "separate but equal" facilities are inherently unequal and violate the protections of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
The Court held that the First Amendment protects the publication of all statements, even false ones, about the conduct of public officials except when statements are made with actual malice (with knowledge that they are false or in reckless disregard of t
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
Though the Constitution does not explicitly protect a general right to privacy, the various guarantees within the Bill of Rights create penumbras, or zones, that establish a right to privacy (mainly the Fourth Amendment, but also the First, Third, and Nin
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court held that the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination is available in all settings. Therefore, prosecution may not use statements arising form a custodial interrogation of a suspect unless certain proce
Loving v. Virginia (1967)
Yes. In a unanimous decision, the Court held that distinctions drawn according to race were generally "odious to free people" and were subject to "the most rigid scrutiny" under the Equal Protection Clause. The Virginia law, the Court found, had no legiti
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Yes. The Supreme Court held that the armbands represented pure speech that is entirely separate from the actions or conduct of those participating in it. The Court also held that the students did not lose their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech
Roe v. Wade (1973)
The Court held that a woman's right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy (recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut) protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision gave a woman total autonomy over the pregnancy during the first trimester and d
Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
In a 6-3 opinion, the Court held that the Texas statue violated the due process clause of the 14th amendment. The Court found that the Texas law had no "legitimate state interest which can justify its intrusion into the personal and private life of the in
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
The ban on registering handguns and the requirement to keep guns in the home disassembled or nonfunctional with a trigger lock mechanism violate the Second Amendment. Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion for the 5-4 majority. The Court held that t
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
The Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees the right to marry as one of the fundamental liberties it protects, and that analysis applies to same-sex couples in the same manner as it does to opposite-sex couples. Judi