U.S. Supreme Court rulings related to Constitutional Law:

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  1. Marbury v. Madison (1803)
    • Details: The case stemmed from William Marbury’s quest to receive his commission as a federal judge.
    • Significance: This case established the principle of judicial review, allowing the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional.
  2. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
    • Details: Maryland tried to tax a branch of the U.S. federal bank.
    • Significance: This ruling confirmed the supremacy of federal law over state law and supported the notion of “implied powers” of the Constitution.
  3. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
    • Details: Dred Scott, a Black slave, sued for his freedom.
    • Significance: The Court held that Black people could not be considered U.S. citizens and thus couldn’t sue. This divisive ruling was overturned by the 14th Amendment.
  4. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
    • Details: Homer Plessy challenged a Louisiana law that enforced racial segregation on trains.
    • Significance: The Court upheld racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. This would later be overturned by Brown v. Board of Education.
  5. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
    • Details: Black children were denied admission to public schools attended by white children.
    • Significance: The Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment, overturning Plessy’s “separate but equal” doctrine.
  6. Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
    • Details: Concerned the prerequisites for custodial police interrogation.
    • Significance: Established the “Miranda rights,” ensuring that persons are informed of their rights to remain silent and to obtain an attorney before police questioning.
  7. Roe v. Wade (1973)
    • Details: Jane Roe sought to terminate her pregnancy but faced restrictions under Texas law.
    • Significance: The Court recognized a woman’s right to have an abortion under the 14th Amendment’s right to privacy, though it allowed for state restrictions in certain trimesters.
  8. United States v. Nixon (1974)
    • Details: President Richard Nixon’s administration sought to prevent the release of taped confidential communications in relation to the Watergate scandal.
    • Significance: The Court ruled that executive privilege does not protect documents relevant to a criminal trial. This ruling limited the power of the presidency.
  9. Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
    • Details: Same-sex couples sued state agencies to challenge the constitutionality of bans on same-sex marriage.
    • Significance: The Court held that the 14th Amendment ensures the right to marry as a fundamental liberty and is guaranteed to same-sex couples.
  10. District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
  • Details: A security guard, Heller, wanted to keep a firearm at home for self-defense but was barred by D.C. law.
  • Significance: The Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to possess a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, like self-defense in one’s home.
  1. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
  • Details: Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with a felony but couldn’t afford an attorney. He argued that the state’s refusal to provide one violated his constitutional rights.
  • Significance: The Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of counsel applied to state courts through the 14th Amendment. This decision ensured that the state must provide an attorney to defendants who can’t afford one in criminal cases.
  1. Loving v. Virginia (1967)
  • Details: Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple, were arrested for violating Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage.
  • Significance: The Court invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage, citing the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
  1. Texas v. Johnson (1989)
  • Details: Gregory Lee Johnson burned an American flag during a protest and was arrested under Texas law that prohibited flag desecration.
  • Significance: The Court held that flag burning constitutes symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment.
  1. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
  • Details: Estelle Griswold was fined for violating a Connecticut law by providing information on contraception.
  • Significance: The Court held that the Constitution protected a right to privacy, including the right to marital privacy against state restrictions on contraception.
  1. Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
  • Details: Dollree Mapp was convicted based on evidence obtained from an illegal police search.
  • Significance: The Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures was enforceable against the states through the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. Illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in state law criminal prosecutions.
  1. Gitlow v. New York (1925)
  • Details: Benjamin Gitlow was prosecuted for distributing a “leftist manifesto” that called for establishing socialism through strikes and class action.
  • Significance: The Court upheld Gitlow’s conviction, but it ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause applied freedoms of speech and press to the states.
  1. Near v. Minnesota (1931)
  • Details: Jay Near published a scandal sheet in Minneapolis, which state officials sought to stop by invoking a state law that targeted malicious or scandalous newspapers.
  • Significance: The Court ruled against prior restraints on publication, establishing a precedent against censorship in advance of publication.
  1. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
  • Details: L.B. Sullivan, a city commissioner, felt an ad in the New York Times defamed him and sued the newspaper for libel.
  • Significance: The Court ruled in favor of the newspaper, establishing the actual malice standard for press reports about public officials or public figures.
  1. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)
  • Details: Students wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War and were suspended.
  • Significance: The Court held that students don’t “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
  1. Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
  • Details: After the Watergate scandal, Congress attempted to ferret out corruption in political campaigns by restricting financial contributions to candidates.
  • Significance: The Court upheld limits on contributions but rejected the spending limits, equating financial contribution to political campaigns with freedom of speech.
  1. Reynolds v. United States (1879)
  • Details: George Reynolds, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was charged with bigamy under federal law.
  • Significance: The Court upheld the federal anti-bigamy statute, ruling that religious duty was not a suitable defense to a criminal indictment.
  1. Schenck v. United States (1919)
  • Details: Charles Schenck was arrested for distributing anti-draft leaflets during World War I.
  • Significance: The Court introduced the “clear and present danger” test, determining when a state could constitutionally limit an individual’s free speech rights under the First Amendment.
  1. United States v. Miller (1939)
  • Details: Jack Miller was charged with transporting an unregistered sawed-off shotgun across state lines, which violated the National Firearms Act.
  • Significance: The Court upheld the Act, ruling that the Second Amendment did not guarantee a right to keep and bear a firearm that did not have “some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia.”
  1. Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
  • Details: Pennsylvania and Rhode Island had statutes that provided state funding for non-public, non-secular schools.
  • Significance: The Court struck down the statutes, establishing the “Lemon test” to determine when a law violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
  1. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
  • Details: Allan Bakke claimed that his rejection from UC Davis Medical School was due to affirmative action, deeming it racial discrimination.
  • Significance: The Court ruled that while affirmative action systems are constitutional, quota systems based on race are not.
  1. Bush v. Gore (2000)
  • Details: After a contested election and recount in Florida during the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, the case was brought to determine the election’s outcome.
  • Significance: The Court ruled that the Florida Supreme Court’s recount order was unconstitutional, effectively resolving the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush.
  1. Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)
  • Details: Citizens United wanted to air a film critical of Hillary Clinton and to advertise the film during television broadcasts, which was prohibited by the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
  • Significance: The Court held that political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment, and the government may not keep corporations or unions from spending money to support or denounce individual candidates in elections.
  1. National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012)
  • Details: The constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act (often referred to as Obamacare) was challenged.
  • Significance: The Court upheld Congress’s power to enact most provisions of the ACA, including the individual mandate, under the taxation power.
  1. Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores (2014)
  • Details: The owners of Hobby Lobby, a for-profit corporation, sought an exemption from providing health insurance coverage for contraceptives as required by the Affordable Care Act based on religious objections.
  • Significance: The Court ruled that closely held for-profit corporations can be exempt from regulations that violate the owners’ religious beliefs under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
  1. Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (2018)
  • Details: Mark Janus, a public-sector employee, challenged the mandatory union fees collected from non-consenting employees.
  • Significance: The Court held that such fees violate the First Amendment, overruling a prior decision that had allowed them.

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