McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
The state of Maryland enacted a tax that would force the United States Bank in Maryland to pay taxes to the state. McCulloch, a cashier for the Baltimore, Maryland Bank, was sued for not complying with the Maryland state tax. This Supreme Court decision e
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
Gibbons v. Ogden, (1824) was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The case was argued by s
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of "separate but equ
Gitlow v. New York (1925)
Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court decided on June 8, 1925, which ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution had extended the reach of certain limitations on federal govern
Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Korematsu v. United States,(1944), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066, which ordered Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II regardless of citizenship.
Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka (1954)
Brown v. Board of Education, (1954), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Fer
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Mapp v. Ohio, (1961), was a landmark case in criminal procedure, in which the United States Supreme Court decided that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures," may not be used in
Engle v. Vitale (1962)
Engel v. Vitale, (1962), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that ruled it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and encourage its recitation in public schools. In an opinion delivered by Justice Hugo Bla
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Gideon v. Wainwright, (1963), is a landmark case in United States Supreme Court history. In it the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state courts are required under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases
Miranda V Arizona (1966)
Miranda v. Arizona, (1966), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which passed 5-4. The Court held that both inculpatory and exculpatory statements made in response to interrogation by a defendant in police custody will be admissible
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, (1969) was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined the constitutional rights of students in U.S. public schools. The Tinker test is still used by courts today to determine whet
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1973)
Lemon v. Kurtzman, (1971), was a case argued before the Supreme Court of the United States. The court ruled unanimously in an 8-0 decision that Pennsylvania's Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act (represented through David Kurtzman) from 1968
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Roe v. Wade, (1973), is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. Decided simultaneously with a companion case, Doe v. Bolton, the Court ruled 7-2 that a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th Amen
US v. Nixon(1974)
United States v. Nixon, (1974), was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision. It resulted in a unanimous 8-0 ruling against President Richard Nixon and was important to the late stages of the Watergate scandal. It is considered a crucial precedent
Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
Buckley v. Valeo, (1976), was a case in which a majority of the Supreme Court of the United States struck down several provisions in the 1974 Amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act, a law that limited campaign expenditures, independent expenditure
Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
Gregg v. Georgia, (1976), reaffirmed the United States Supreme Court's acceptance of the use of the death penalty in the United States, upholding, in particular, the death sentence imposed on Troy Leon Gregg. Referred to by a leading scholar as the July 2
Regents of California v. Bakke (1978)
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, (1978) was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States. It upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy. However, the court ruled that
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)
Hazelwood School District v Kuhlmeier , (1988) was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States which held that public school curricular student newspapers that have not been established as forums for student expression are subject to a l
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
Texas v. Johnson, (1989), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the American flag enforced in 48 of the 50 states. Justice William Brennan wrote for a five-justice majority in holding that th
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992)
Planned Parenthood v. Casey, (1992) was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the constitutionality of several Pennsylvania state regulations regarding abortion were challenged. The Court's plurality opinion upheld the constitu
U.S. v. Lopez (1995)
United States v. Alfonso D. Lopez, Jr. (1995) was the first United States Supreme Court case since the New Deal to set limits to Congress's power under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court affirmed th
Vernonia School District v. Acton (1995)
Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton, (1995) was a U.S. Supreme Court decision which upheld the constitutionality of random drug testing regimen implemented by the local public schools in Vernonia, Oregon. Under that regimen, student athletes were requir
Clinton v. New York (1998)
Clinton v. City of New York, (1998), is a legal case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the line-item veto as granted in the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 violated the Presentment Clause of the United States Constitution because it im
Boy Scouts of America et al v. Dale (2000)
Boy Scouts of America v Dale, (2000), was a landmark case of the Supreme Court of the United States decided on June 28, 2000, that held that the constitutional right to freedom of association allows a private organization like the Boy Scouts of America (B
Grutter v Bollinger (2003)
Grutter v. Bollinger, (2003), was a landmark case in which the United States Supreme Court upheld the affirmative action admissions policy of the University of Michigan Law School. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the majority in a 5-4 decision an