Scheduled maintenance: Wednesday, February 8 from 10PM to 11PM PST
Upgrade to remove ads
Only $35.99/year

Landmark Supreme Court Cases

Terms in this set (26)

Marbury v. Madison
The 1803 case in which Chief Justice John Marshall and his associates first asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. The decision established the Court's power of judicial review over acts of Congress, in this case the Judiciary Act of 1789.
United States v. Nixon
Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the president must relinquish the Watergate Tapes. The tapes revealed concrete evidence of Nixon's involvement, giving proof of the president ordering the FBI to stop investigating the break-in only three days after it had occurred. Executive privilege doesn't protect the president from criminal investigation
Baker v. Carr
Case that established the principle of one man, one vote. This decision created guidelines for drawing up congressional districts and guaranteed a more equitable system of representation to the citizens of each state.
Bush v. Gore
Use of 14th Amendment's equal protection clause to stop the Florida recount in the election of 2000. This case ruled in favor of Bush by saying that recounting the votes in certain counties of Florida was unconstitutional because of equal protection of the law; Gore's wish to make the process as simple and painless as possible backfired.
Scott v. Sandford
1857 Supreme Court decision ruling that a slave who had escaped to a free state enjoyed no rights as a citizen and that Congress had no authority to ban slavery in the territories.
Plessy v. Ferguson
A 1896 Supreme Court decision which legalized state ordered segregation so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal.
Korematsu v. United States
1944 Supreme Court case where the Supreme Court upheld the order providing for the relocation of Japanese Americans.
Brown v. Bd. of Educ. of Topeka
Segregated schools in the several states are unconstitutional in violation of the 14th Amendment, overturning Plessy.
Loving v. Virginia
1867 court case that declared all laws against interracial marriage unconstitutional.
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke
A 1978 Supreme Court decision holding that a state university could not admit less qualified individuals solely because of their race.
Griswold v. Connecticut
Established that there is an implied right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution.
Roe v. Wade
(1973) Legalized abortion on the basis of a woman's right to privacy.
Mapp v. Ohio
Established the exclusionary rule was applicable to the states (evidence seized illegally cannot be used in court).
New Jersey v. T.L.O.
Supreme court case in which it was decided that a student may be searched if there is "reasonable ground" for doing so.
Gideon v. Wainwright
The 1963 Supreme Court decision holding that anyone accused of a felony where imprisonment may be imposed, however poor he or she might be, has a right to a lawyer.
Miranda v. Arizona
Supreme Court held that criminal suspects must be informed of their right to consult with an attorney and of their right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police.
Furman v. Georgia
(1972) Death penalty is cruel and unusual if carried out in "an arbitrary, discriminatory, and capricious manner".
Gregg v. Georgia
The 1976 Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, stating that "It is an extreme sanction, suitable to the most extreme of crimes."
Roper v. Simmons
8th amendment (no cruel and unusual punishment), minors cannot receive the death penalty, ruled in favor of Simmons.
New York Times v. Sullivan
1964; Public officials may not win a libel suit unless they can prive that the statement was made knowing it to be fake or with reckless disregard of its truth.
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
The court ruled that high school students had the right to wear black armbands protesting the Vietnam War on school grounds (1969): School Speech.
Texas v. Johnson
A 1989 case in which the Supreme Court struck down a law banning the burning of the American flag on the grounds that such action was symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment.
New York Times Co. v. United States
1971-- Except in extraordinary circumstances, a court may not prevent the news or entertainment media for publishing or broadcasting material allegedly not protected by the first amendment.
Everson v. Board of Education
The Court ruled that the New Jersey law (allowing the state to pay for busing students to parochial shcools) was constitutional; the law benefited students rather than aided a religion directly.
Wisconsin v. Yoder
(1972) The Court ruled that Wisconsin could not require Amish parents to send their children to public school beyond the eighth grade because it would violate their long-held religious beliefs
Engle v. Vitale
Supreme Court case that ruled that prayer in public school violated the principle of separation of church and state.
Students also viewed