Marbury V. Madison (1803)
Established judicial review: "midnight judges"; John Marshall ; power of the Supreme Court
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Established national supremacy; established implied powers; use of elastic clause; state unable to tax federal institution; John Marshall: "the power to tax involves the power to destroy.
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
Congress can legislate and regulate all matters of interstate commerce as long as there is some commercial connection with another state.
Reynolds v. U.S. (1879)
Religious Duty (practice of polygamy in this case) was not a suitable defense to a criminal indictment
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Established separate but equal
Schenck v. U.S. (1919)
Oliver Wendell Holmes; clear and present danger test; shouting "fire" in a crowded theater; limits on speech, especially in wartime.
Gitlow V. New York (1925)
Established precedent federalizing Bill of Rights (applying them to the states); states cannot deny freedom of speech protected through due process clause of 14th amendment.
Palko v. Connecticut (1937)
Provided test for determining which parts of Bill of Rights should be federalized - those which are explicitly or explicitly necessary for liberty to exist.
Brown v. Board, 1st (1954)
School segregation unconstitutional; segregation psychologically damaging to blacks; overturned separate but equal; use of 14th amendment; judicial activism of Warran Court; unanimous decision
Brown v. Board 2nd (1955)
Ordered schools to desegregate "with all due and deliberate speed
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Established exclusionary rule; illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court; Warren Court's judicial activism
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Prohibited state-sponsored recitation of prayer in public schools by virtue of First Amendment's establishment clause and the 14th amendment's due process clause; Warren Court's judicial activism.
Baker v. Carr (1962)
One man, one vote" Ordered state legislative district to be as near equal as possible in population, Warren Court's political judicial activism.
Abbington v. Schempp (1963)
Prohibited devotional Bible reading in public schools by virtue of establishment clause and due process clause; Warren Court's judicial activism.
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Ordered states to provide lawyers for those unable to afford them in criminal proceedings; Warren Court's judicial activism in criminal rights.
Wesberry v. Sanders (1963)
Ordered House districts to be as near equal in population as possible.
Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)
Court held that incriminating statements made by defendants are inadmissible as evidence unless the accused is informed of his rights before making the statements.
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. U.S. (1964)
Congress has a right to regulate individual businesses in the interest of promoting interstate travel.
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
Established right of privacy through 4th and 9th amendments. Set a precedent for Roe v. Wade
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Established Miranda warnings of counsel and silence. Must be given before questioning. Warren Court's judicial activism in criminal rights.
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Students do not shed their constitutional rights as the schoolhouse gate, and therefore are entitled to the free expression of their views as long as there is no substantial or material interference of the education process
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
Established 3-part test to determine if establishment clause is violated; nonsecular purpose, advances/inhibits religion, excessive entanglement with government
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Established national abortion guidelines; trimester guidelines; no state interference in 1st state may regulate to protect health of mother in 2nd, state may regulate to protect health of unborn child in 3rd. Inferred fro right of privacy established in G
U.S. v Nixon (1974)
Allowed for executive privilege, but not in criminal cases; "Even the President is not above the law;" Watergate
Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
1st Amendment protects campaign spending; legislatures can limit contributions, but not how much one spends of his own money on campaigns.
U. C. Regents v. Bakke (1978)
Alan Bakke and UC Davis Medical School; strict quotas unconstitutional, but states may allow race to be taken into account as ONE factor in admissions decision. Bakke admitted.
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1987)
More leeway for states in regulating abortion, though no overturninig of Roe v. Wade
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
Struck down a Texas law that banned flag burning, which the Court declared was protected by First Amendment
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
States can regulate abortion, but not with regulations that impose "undue burden" upon women; did not overturn Roe v. Wade, but gave states more leeway in regulating abortion (e.g. 24-hour waiting period, parental consent for minors)
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
No racial gerrymandering; race cannot be the sole or predominant factor in redrawing legislative boundaries; majority-minority districts
U.S. v. Lopez (1995)
Gun Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress' authority to regulate interstate commerce.
Reno v. ACLU (1997)
Communications Decency Act violated the First Amendment because the act did not clearly define "indecent.
Clinton v. NY (1998)
Banned presidential use of line item veto.
Bush v. Gore (2000)
Use of 14th Amendment's equal protection clause to stop the Florida recount in the election of 2000.
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)
Public money can be used to send disadvantaged children to religious schools in tuition voucher programs
Ashcroft v. ACLU (2002)
Struck down a federal ban on "virtual" child pornography.
Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
Using right of privacy, struck down Texas law banning sodomy.
Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)
Struck down use of "bonus points" for race in undergrad admissions at University of Michigan
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
Allowed the use of race as a general factor in law school admissions at University of Michigan.
Kelo v. City of New London (2005)
Eminent Domain Case: Local governments may force the sale of private property and make way for private economic development when officials decide it would benefit the public.
Gonzalez v. Carhart (2007)
Upheld Partial Birth Control Ban Act of 2003.
Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith (1990)
states could deny unemployment benefits to a person fired for violating a state prohibition on the use of peyote even though the use of the drug was part of a religious ritual.
DC v. Heller (2008)
Struck down a Washington DC ordinance that banned handguns.
Baron v. Baltimore (1833)
the Constitution's Bill of Rights restricts only the powers of the federal government and not those of the state governments.
Benton v. Maryland (1969)
Benton ruled that the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment applies to the states. In doing so, Benton expressly overruled Palko v. Connecticut, 302 U.S. 319 (1937).
Miller v. California (1973)
the court redefined its definition of obscenity from that of "utterly without socially redeeming value" to that which lacks "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value." It is now referred to as the Three-prong standard or the Miller test.
Near v. Minnesota (1933)
Recognized the freedom of the press by roundly rejecting prior restraints on publication, a principle that was applied to free speech generally in subsequent jurisprudence.
King v. Burwell (2015)
upheld one of the main tenets of President Barack Obama's health care law, ruling 6-3 that millions of Americans are entitled to keep the tax subsidies that help them afford insurance.
Citizens United v. FEC (2010)
The United States Supreme Court held that freedom of speech prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by a nonprofit corporation.
Slaughter House Cases (1873)
Decided that the Fourteenth Amendment, protecting the "privileges or immunities" conferred by virtue of US citizenship, to all individuals of all states within it but not to protect the various privileges or immunities incident to citizenship of a state.
Roth v. U.S. (1957)
Ruled that all speech was guaranteed First Amendment protection unless it was "utterly without redeeming social importance
Shelby County v. Holder (2013)
Section 4(b) of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional because the coverage formula is based on data over 40 years old, making it no longer responsive to current needs and therefore an impermissible burden on the constitutional principles of feder
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004)
Court recognized the power of the U.S. government to detain enemy combatants, including U.S. citizens, but ruled that detainees who are U.S. citizens must have the rights of due process, and the ability to challenge their enemy combatant status before an
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
The fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[2][3]
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014)
Allowing closely held for-profit corporations to be exempt from a law its owners religiously object to if there is a less restrictive means of furthering the law's interest, according to the provisions of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).