Supreme Court Decisions

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Supreme Court Decisions
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Marbury v. Madison. 1803

• Reason William Marbury, a Judicial appointee of
  John Adams was refused his appointment by T.
  Jeffersons Secretary of State James Madison
• Judgment Marbury, Madisons refusal was illegal,
  the appointment had been made legally by Adams.
• Significance It also ruled that its own power
  to issue legal writs of mandamus was
  unconstitutional. Established the precedent of
  Judicial review

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McCulloch v. Maryland, 1819

• Reason When the U.S. branch bank in Baltimore
  refused to pay taxes, Maryland brought suit for
  collection from the bank
• Judgment McCulloch - The chartering of a bank,
  was a power implied from the power over federal
  fiscal operations. The state cannot impede
  federal laws, the tax was voted unconstitutional
• Significance- It set the precedent for a broad
  interpretation of the powers of the federal
  government

4
Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857

• Reason Dred Scott sued his master for freedom,
  after his family had traveled into a free section
  of Louisiana.
• Judgment Sanford As an African-American Scott
  could not sue because he was not a citizen.
• Significance Declared the Missouri Compromise
  unconstitutional- it violated the 5th Amendment
  by depriving slave owners of their property

5
Bradwell v. Illinois, 1873

• Reason Myra Bradwell asserted her right to a
  license to practice law in Illinois by virtue of
  her status as a United States citizen. The judges
  of the Illinois Supreme Court denied her
  application.
• Judgment- Illinois
• Significance- The right to practice law is not a
  constitutionally protected right. Justice
  Bradley went beyond the constitutional
  explanations of the case to describe the reasons
  why it was natural and proper for women to be
  excluded from the legal profession.

6
Reynolds v. United States, 1879

• Reason George Reynolds was a member of the
  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
  charged with bigamy after marrying two women at
  the same time in the Utah Territory.
• Judgment- The United States
• Significance The Supreme Court recognized that
  under the First Amendment, the Congress cannot
  pass a law that prohibits the free exercise of
  religion. However it argued that the law
  prohibiting bigamy did not fall under this.

7
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896

• Reason Homer Plessy was arrested after he
  refused to move to a colored train car after
  purchasing a first class ticket.
• Judgment Ferguson,
• The 14th Amendment did not protect African
  Americans from private citizens.
• Significance- Established the separate but
  equal clause that allowed segregation in the
  U.S.

8
Weeks v. United States, 1914

• Reason- Police entered the home of Fremont Weeks
  and seized papers which were used to convict him
  of transporting lottery tickets through the mail.
  This was done without a search warrant.
• Judgment- Weeks
• Significance- The Court held that the seizure of
  items from Weeks' residence directly violated his
  constitutional rights. The Court also held that
  the government's refusal to return Weeks'
  possessions violated the Fourth Amendment.

9
Schenck v. United States, 1919

• Reason Charles Schenck was arrested for mailing
  materials urging draftees to avoid military
  service, under the Espionage Act created during
  WWI.
• Judgment United States
• Significance Schencks actions were a clear
  and present danger in a time of war. Defined
  the parameters of speech during a time of war.

10
Gitlow v. New York, 1925

• Reason Gitlow was arrested for distributing
  Communist pamphlets advocating the overthrow of
  the government.
• Judgment New York,
• Gitlow did not have 14th amendment protection,
  because he broke a state law that made invoking
  violence against the government a crime.
• Significance Set the precedent for the future
  expansion of the freedom of speech

11
Near v. Minnesota, 1931

• Reason- Jay Near published a scandal sheet in
  Minneapolis, in which he attacked local
  officials, charging that they were implicated
  with gangsters. Minnesota officials obtained an
  injunction to prevent Near from publishing his
  newspaper under a state law that allowed such
  action against periodicals.
• Judgment- Near
• Significance The Court held that the statute
  authorizing the injunction was unconstitutional
  as applied. The Court established the doctrine
  that, with some narrow exceptions, the government
  could not censor or otherwise prohibit a
  publication in advance.

12
Scottsboro Boys v. Alabama, 1932

• Reason Nine black teenagers, none older than
  nineteen, were accused of raping two white women
  on a train. The defendants were sentenced to
  death, despite the fact that one of the women
  later denied being raped
• Judgment Scottsburo Boys
• Significance- In two separate cases, the Court
  ruled that the defendants were denied the right
  to counsel, which violated their right to due
  process under the Fourteenth Amendment, and that
  the exclusion of blacks from the grand jury which
  issued the indictment violated the Boys'
  Fourteenth Amendment rights.

13
Hirabayashi v. United States, 1943

• Reason Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi, a student at
  the University of Washington, was convicted of
  violating a curfew and relocation order.
• Judgment- For the US. The Court found the
  President's orders and the implementation of the
  curfew to be constitutional.
• Significance- racial discrimination was justified
  since "in time of war residents having ethnic
  affiliations with an invading enemy may be a
  greater source of danger than those of a
  different ancestry."

14
Kunz v. New York, 1951

• Reason Kunz was was convicted for holding a
  religious meeting on the city streets without a
  permit in violation of N.Y city code.
• Judgment Kunz
• Significance this Court, interpreted the
  restrictive action of the state authorities as
  violating the Free Exercise Clause of the First
  Amendment in that such action disadvantaged Kunz
  because of his religious beliefs

15
Brown v. Board of Education, 1954

• Reason 5 African American families sued the
  Topeka School board for unequal facilities
• Judgment For Brown, segregated schools were not
  equal, and discriminated against people of color.
• Significance Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson,
  segregation was declared unconstitutional

16
Mapp v. Ohio, 1961

• Reason Mapp was arrested by police for obscene
  photos taken from his house in a search without a
  warrant
• Judgment For Mapp, the search was
  unconstitutional
• Significance Evidence found in an illegal search
  and seizure cannot be used.

17
Baker v. Carr, 1962

• Reason-Charles W. Baker and other Tennessee
  citizens alleged that a 1901 law designed to
  apportion the seats for the state's General
  Assembly was virtually ignored.
• Judgment- Baker
• Significance the Court held that the Supreme
  Court did have jurisdiction over questions of
  legislative apportionment

18
Engel v. Vitale, 1962

• The Board of Regents for the State of New York
  authorized a short, nondenominational voluntary
  prayer for recitation at the start of each school
  day.
• Judgment Engel
• Conclusion
• Neither the prayer's nondenominational character
  nor its voluntary character saves it from
  unconstitutionality. By providing the prayer, New
  York officially approved religion. This was the
  first case in which the Court used the
  establishment clause to eliminate religious
  activities as part of public ceremonies.

19
Gideon v. Wainwright, 1963

• Reason Clarence Gideon was arrested for
  burglary, asked for attorney because he was poor,
  the court refused his request.
• Judgment For Gideon - all defendants must have
  access to counsel.
• Significance Overturned an earlier decision the
  precedent that only death penalty cases required
  automatic counsel.

20
Escobedo v. Illinois, 1964
21
New York Times v. Sullivan, 1964

• Reason Alabama police commissioner L.B. Sullivan
  sued the N.Y. times for libel for ads placed by
  two civil rights organizations.
• Judgment Against Sullivan- the major role of the
  press is a watchdog of public officials.
• Significance- Public officials who were the
  target of false statements could not sue unless
  they could prove that the statement was made with
  knowledge it was false or disregard whether it
  was false or not.

22
Griswold v. Connecticut, 1965

• Reason Griswold was the Executive Director of the
  Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut.
  Griswold and her colleague were convicted under a
  Connecticut law which criminalized the provision
  of counseling, and other medical treatment, to
  married persons for purposes of preventing
  conception.
• Judgment Griswold
• Significance Through the Court, the various
  guarantees within the Bill of Rights create
  penumbras (zones) that establish a right to
  privacy. Together, the First, Third, Fourth, and
  Ninth Amendments, create a new constitutional
  right, the right to privacy in marital relations.
  The Connecticut law conflicted with the exercise
  of this right.

23
Miranda v. Arizona. l966

• Reason Ernesto Miranda was arrested on rape and
  kidnapping charges, he signed a confession
  without being informed of his right to counsel or
  right to remain silent
• Judgment- Miranda- Police had failed to follow
  the 5th Amendment
• Significance- Police officials must inform
  suspects of their constitutional rights when
  arresting them.

24
Sheppard v. Maxwell, 1966

• Reason- Convicted of second-degree murder for the
  bludgeoning death of his pregnant wife, Samuel
  Sheppard challenged the verdict as the product of
  an unfair trial. Sheppard, who maintained his
  innocence of the crime, alleged that the trial
  judge failed to protect him from the massive,
  widespread, and prejudicial publicity that
  attended his prosecution.
• Judgment Shepard
• Significance- the Court found that Sheppard did
  not receive a fair trial. Although freedom of
  expression should be given great latitude, the
  Court held that it must not be so broad as to
  divert the trial away from adjudicating both
  criminal and civil matters in an objective, calm,
  and solemn courtroom setting.

25
Loving v. Virginia, 1967

• Reason Two residents of Virginia, Mildred Jeter,
  a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man,
  were married in the District of Columbia. The
  couple was then charged with violating the
  state's antimiscegenation statute
• Judgment Loving
• Significance the Court held that distinctions
  drawn according to race were generally "odious to
  a free people" and were subject to "the most
  rigid scrutiny" under the Equal Protection Clause

26
Epperson v. Arkansas, 1968

• Reason The Arkansas legislature passed a law
  prohibiting teachers in public or state-supported
  schools from teaching, or using textbooks that
  teach, human evolution, because it violated the
  beliefs of Fundamentalist Christians. Epperson, a
  public school teacher, sued, claiming the law
  violated her First Amendment right to free speech
  as well as the Establishment Clause.
• Judgment Epperson
• Significance This use of state power to prohibit
  the teaching of material objectionable to a
  particular sect amounted to an unconstitutional
  Establishment of religion.

27
United States v. OBrien, 1968

• ReasonDavid O'Brien burned his draft card at a
  Boston courthouse. He said he was expressing his
  opposition to war. He was convicted under a
  federal law that made the destruction or
  mutilation of drafts card a crime.
• Judgment The United States
• Significance- The Court established a test to
  determine whether governmental regulation
  involving symbolic speech was justified.

28
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School
District, 1969

• Reason Three students decided to protest the
  Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to their
  Des Moines schools during the Christmas holiday
  season.. Fearing that the armbands would provoke
  disturbances, the principals of Des Moines'
  school districts resolved that all students
  wearing armbands be asked to remove them or face
  suspension. When they wore their armbands to
  school, they were asked to remove them. When they
  refused, they were suspended until after New
  Year's Day.
• Judgment Tinker
• Significance The wearing of armbands was
  "closely akin to 'pure speech'" and protected by
  the First Amendment. School environments imply
  limitations on free expression, but here the
  principals lacked justification for imposing any
  such limits.

29
Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971

• In Pennsylvania, a statute provided financial
  support for teacher salaries, textbooks, and
  instructional materials for secular subjects to
  non-public schools. The Rhode Island statute
  provided direct supplemental salary payments to
  teachers in non-public elementary schools. Each
  statute made aid available to "church-related
  educational institutions.
• Judgment Lemon
• Significance The Court found that the
  subsidization of parochial schools furthered a
  process of religious inculcation, and that the
  "continuing state surveillance" necessary to
  enforce the specific provisions of the laws would
  inevitably entangle the state in religious
  affairs.

30
New York Times Company v. United States, 1971

• Reason The Pentagon Papers Case," the Nixon
  Administration attempted to prevent the New York
  Times and Washington Post from publishing
  materials belonging to a classified Defense
  Department study regarding the history of United
  States activities in Vietnam. The President
  argued that prior restraint was necessary to
  protect national security.
• Judgment New York Times
• Significance the Court held that the government
  did not overcome the "heavy presumption against"
  prior restraint of the press in this case

31
Muhammad Ali v. United States, 1971

• Reason When Cassius Clay refused to report for
  induction, he was tried and convicted of willful
  refusal to submit to induction, even though he
  had previously claimed and been refused
  contentious objector status.
• Judgment- For Clay- the Court held that since the
  Appeal Board gave no reason for the denial of a
  conscientious objector exemption to Clay, Clay's
  conviction must be reversed
• Significance- Helped clarify the status of
  contentious objector status under the 1st
  Amendment

32
Eisenstadt v. Baird, 1972

• Reason William Baird gave away contraceptives to
  an unmarried woman. Massachusetts charged Baird
  with a felony, to distribute contraceptives to
  unmarried men or women. Under the law, only
  married couples could obtain contraceptives only
  registered doctors or pharmacists could provide
  them. Baird was not an authorized distributor of
  contraceptives.
• Judgment Eisenstadt
• Significance The Court held that the law's
  distinction between single and married
  individuals failed to satisfy the "rational basis
  test" of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal
  Protection Clause.

33
Wisconsin v. Yoder, 1972

• Reason Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller, both
  members of the Old Order Amish religion, were
  prosecuted under a Wisconsin law that required
  all children to attend public schools until age
  16. The parents refused to send their children
  after the eighth grade, arguing that high school
  attendance was contrary to their religious
  beliefs.
• Judgment For Yoder
• Significance- individual's interests in the free
  exercise of religion under the First Amendment
  outweighed the State's interests in compelling
  school attendance beyond the eighth grade.

34
Roe et al v. Wade, 1973

• Reason The arrest of Roe, an unmarried woman
  from Texas, where abortion was illegal
• Judgment For Roe- The Court ruled that a woman
  has the right to an abortion without interference
  from the government in the first trimester of
  pregnancy, contending that it is part of her
  right to privacy. The Court granted states the
  right to intervene in the second and third
  trimesters of pregnancy
• Significance- Legalized abortion and is at the
  center of the current controversy between
  pro-life and pro-choice advocates..

35
Miller v. California, 1973

• Reason- Miller, after conducting a mass mailing
  campaign to advertise the sale of "adult"
  material, was convicted of violating a California
  statute prohibiting the distribution of obscene
  material.
• Judgment- California
• Significance the Court held that obscene
  materials did not enjoy First Amendment
  protection. The Court modified the test for
  obscenity. Obscene materials cannot be openly
  mailed without prior agreement.

36
Nixon v. United States, 1974

• Reason- The special prosecutor for the Watergate
  Investigation subpoenaed tapes from President
  Nixon. Nixon asserted that he was immune from the
  subpoena claiming "executive privilege,
• Judgment- For United States The Court held that
  neither the separation of powers, nor the
  generalized need for confidentiality of
  high-level communications, without more, can
  sustain an absolute, unqualified, presidential
  privilege
• Significance- The release of the tapes forced
  Nixon to resign from office,

37
Lau v. Nichols, 1974
38
Corning v. Brennan, 1974
39
Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 1975
40
Califano v. Goldfarb, 1977
41
Regents of the University of California v. Allan
Bakke, 1978

• Reason The University of Calif., Davis, Medical
  School vs. Allan Bakke, a white applicant who was
  rejected twice even though there were minority
  applicants admitted with significantly lower
  scores than his
• Judgment- For Bakke- affirmative action was
  unfair if it lead to reverse discrimination..
• Significance- The Court ruled that while race
  was a legitimate factor in school admissions, the
  use of rigid quotas was not permissible.

42
Board of Education v. Pico, 1982

• Reason The Island Trees Union Free School
  District's Board of Education acting contrary to
  the recommendations of a committee of parents and
  school staff, ordered that certain books be
  removed from its district's junior high and high
  school libraries. In support of its actions, the
  Board said such books were "anti-American,
  anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain
  filthy." Steven Pico brought suit in federal
  district court challenging the Board's decision
  to remove the books.
• Judgment Pico
• Significance The Court held that as centers for
  inquiry and the spread of information and ideas,
  school libraries enjoy a special affinity with
  the rights of free speech and press. The Board
  could not restrict the availability of books in
  its libraries simply because its members
  disagreed with their idea content.

43
New Jersey v. T.L.O.1984

• Reason- T.L.O. was a fourteen-year-old she was
  accused of smoking in the girls' bathroom of her
  high school. A principal at the school questioned
  her and searched her purse, yielding a bag of
  marijuana and other drug paraphernalia.
• Judgment- New Jersey,
• Significance- Citing the peculiarities associated
  with searches on school grounds, the Court
  abandoned its requirement that searches be
  conducted only when a "probable cause" exists
  that an individual has violated the law. the
  principal had found rolling paper in the girls
  purse, which gave him reasonable suspicion to
  continue the search.

44
Johnson v. Santa Clara County, California, 1987

• Reason The Transportation Agency, Santa Clara,
  California promoted Diane Joyce to road
  dispatcher over Paul Johnson. Both candidates
  were qualified for the job. As an affirmative
  action employer, the Agency took into account the
  sex of the applicants in making the promotion
  decision.
• Judgment Santa Clara County
• Significance The Court affirmed the promotion
  procedures of the Agency. Justice Brennan argued
  that it was not unreasonable to consider sex as
  one factor among many in making promotion
  decisions, and that the Agency's actions did not
  create an absolute barrier to the advancement of
  men

45
Cipollone v. Liggett Group, 1988
46
DeShaney v. Winnebago, 1989
47
Eichman v. United States, 1990

• Reason- In 1989, Congress passed the Flag
  Protection Act which made it a crime to destroy
  an American flag or any likeness of an American
  flag which may be "commonly displayed." The law
  did, however, allow proper disposal of a worn or
  soiled flag. Eichman set a flag ablaze on the
  steps of the U.S. Capitol while protesting the
  government's domestic and foreign policy
• Judgment- Eichman
• Significance- the Court struck down the law
  because "its asserted interest is related to the
  suppression of free expression and concerned with
  the content of such expression.

48
Cruzan v. Missouri, 1990

• Reason In 1983, Nancy Beth Cruzan was involved
  in an automobile accident which left her in a
  "persistent vegetative state." When Cruzan's
  parents attempted to terminate the life-support
  system, state hospital officials refused to do so
  without court approval.
• Judgment- Missouri
• Significance- the Court held that while
  individuals enjoyed the right to refuse medical
  treatment under the Due Process Clause,
  incompetent persons were not able to exercise
  such rights. The Court found the State of
  Missouri's actions designed to preserve human
  life to be constitutional.

49
Simon Schuster v. New York Crime Victims Board,
1991

• To keep criminals from profiting from crimes by
  selling their stories, New York State's 1977 "Son
  of Sam" law ordered that proceeds from such deals
  be turned over to the New York State Crime
  Victims Board. In 1987 the Board ordered Henry
  Hill, a former gangster who sold his story to
  Simon Schuster, to turn over his payments from
  a book deal.
• Judgment- Simon Schuster
• Significance- The Court concluded that "New York
  has singled out speech on a particular subject
  for a financial burden that it places on no other
  speech and no other income."

50
Bush v. Gore, 2000

• Reason- The Florida Supreme Court ordered that
  that every county in Florida must immediately
  begin manually recounting all "under-votes"
  because there were enough contested ballots to
  place the the election outcome in doubt. Bush and
  Cheney sought an emergency petition for a stay of
  the Florida Supreme Court's decision.
• Judgment- Bush,
• Significance- the Equal Protection clause
  guarantees individuals that their ballots cannot
  be devalued by "later arbitrary and disparate
  treatment," the opinion held that the Florida
  Supreme Court's scheme for recounting ballots was
  unconstitutional. The 2000 Presidential race was
  decided in George W. Bushs favor.

51
United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Coop

• Reason- Under a 1996 CA law, the Oakland Cannabis
  Buyers' Cooperative was organized to distribute
  marijuana to qualified patients for medical
  purposes. The government charged them with
  violating the Controlled Substances Act's
  prohibitions on distributing, manufacturing, and
  possessing with the intent to distribute or
  manufacture a controlled substance.
• Judgment- The United States
• Significance- the Court held that there is no
  medical necessity exception to the Controlled
  Substances Act's prohibitions on manufacturing
  and distributing marijuana. The distribution,
  manufacturing and possession with the intent to
  distribute is still illegal under Federal law.