Supreme Court Cases

Question 1

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Answer 1

—–The court established its role as the arbiter of the constitutionality of federal laws, the principle is known as judicial review

Question 2

Fletcher v. Peck (1810)

Answer 2

—–The decision stems from the Yazoo land cases, 1803, and upholds the sanctity of contracts. first time supreme court assumed right to declare a state law unconstitutional

Question 3

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Answer 3

—–The Court ruled that states cannot tax the federal government, i.e. the Bank of the U.S.; the phrase “the power to tax is the power to destroy”; confirmed the constitutionality of the Bank of the U.S.

Question 4

Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)

Answer 4

—–New Hampshire had attempted to take over Dartmouth College by revising its colonial charter. The Court ruled that the charter was protected under the contract clause of the U.S. Constitution; upholds the sanctity of contracts

Question 5

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

Answer 5

—–Clarified the commerce clause and affirmed Congressional power over interstate commerce

Question 6

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1832)

Answer 6

—–ruled an indian tribe was neither a foreign nation nor a state and therefore had no standing in federal courts. But indians still had unquestioned right to their land

Question 7

Worchester v. Georgia (1832)

Answer 7

—–Established tribal autonomy within their boundaries, i.e. the tribes were “distinct political communities, having territorial boundaries within which their authority is exclusive” the laws of georgia can have no force

Question 8

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Answer 8

—–Speaking for a widely divided court, Chief Justice Taney ruled that Dredd Scott was not a citizen and had no standing in court; Scott’s residence in a free state and territory had not made him free since he returned to Missouri; Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in a territory (based on the 5th Amendment right of a person to be secure from seizure of property), thus voiding the Missouri Compromise of 1820

Question 9

Ex parte Milligan (1866)

Answer 9

—–Ruled that a civilian cannot be tried in military courts while civil courts are available, 1866

Question 10

Munn v. Illinois (1877)

Answer 10

—–A United States Supreme Court case dealing with corporate rates and agriculture. allowed states to regulate certain businesses within their borders, including railroads

Question 11

Civil Rights Cases (1883)

Answer 11

—–Legalized segregation with regard to private property, 1883. Cases invalidated Civil Rights acts of 1875

Question 12

Wabash RR v Illinois (1886)

Answer 12

—–National power. Federalism. The Supreme Court forbade any state to set rates, even within its own borders, on railroad traffic entering from or bound for another state. This paved the way for the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887.

Question 13

In Re Debs (1895)

Answer 13

—–denied a writ of habeas corpus to Eugene Debs, after he was cited for contempt for violating an injunction against the Pullman strike. Strike interfered with the federal responsibility to transport the mails and its authority over interstate commerce

Question 14

Plessy v. Ferguson 1896

Answer 14

—–Legalized segregation in publicly owned facilities on the basis of “separate but equal”

Question 15

Cummins v. County Board of Education (1899)

Answer 15

deciding this case, the U.S. Supreme Court officially applied the “separate but equal doctrine” to public schools. As a result of this decision and Plessy v. Ferguson, segregation laws known as Jim Crow laws, piled up throughout the South.

Question 16

Northern Securities Co. v. U.S. (1904)

Answer 16

Re-established the authority of the federal government to fight monopolies under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, northern securities corporation by jp morgan

Question 17

Lochner v. New York (1905)

Answer 17

York State law fixing maximum working hours for bakers was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. The court held the law exceeded the police powers of the state and interfered with the individual’s right to freedom of contract under Amendment 14.

Question 18

Muller v. Oregon (1908)

Answer 18

—–Supreme court ruling that upheld a ten-hour work day law for women largely on the basis of sociological data regarding the effects of long hours on the health and morals of women.

Question 19

Schenck v. U.S. (1919)

Answer 19

—–Unanimously upheld the Espionage Act of 1917 which decalred that people who interfered with the war effort were subject to imprisonment; decalred that the 1rst Amendment right to freedom of speech was no absolute; free speech could be limited if its exercise presented a “clear and present danger”

Question 20

Adkins v. Children’s Hospital (1923

Answer 20

—–Declard unconstitutional a minimum wage law for women on the grounds that it denied women freedom of contract. reversed supreme courts ruling in muller v. oregon which had declared women to be deserving of special protection in the workplace. said women were now equal and didn’t need protection

Question 21

Schecter v. U.S. (1935)

Answer 21

—–Sometimes called “the sick chicken case.” or Schecter poultry case Unanimously declared the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) unconstitutional on three grounds : the act delegated legislative power to the executive, there was a lack of constitutional authority for such legislation; and it sought to regulate businesses that were wholly intrastate in character, 1936

Question 22

Korematsu v. U.S (1944)

Answer 22

—–The court upheld the constitutionality of detention camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II, 1941

Question 23

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)

Answer 23

—–Unanimous decision declaring “separate but equal” unconstitutional

Question 24

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Answer 24

—–Extends to the defendant the right of counsel (lawyer) in STATE AS WELL AS FEDERAL CRIMINAL TRIALS regardless of their ability to pay. major broadening of the us bill of rights

Question 25

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Answer 25

—–The court ruled that those subject to in-custody interrogation be advised of their constitutional right to an attorney and their right to remain silent, 1966

Question 26

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Answer 26

—–The court legalized abortion by ruling that state laws could not restrict it during the first three months of pregnancy. Based on the 4th Amendment rights of a person to be secure in their persons. 1973

Question 27

U.S. v. Richard Nixon (1974

Answer 27

court rejected Richard Nixon’s claim to an abolutely unqualified privilege against any judicial process

Question 28

Bakke v. University of California (1978)

Answer 28

—–In this 5-4 ruling the Supreme Court outlawed quotas
and ordered that Alan Bakke be admitted to medical school. But the court also upheld the principle of affirmative action, explaining that race or ethnicity could be counted as a plus in an applicant’s file as long as it did “not insulate the individual from comparison with other candidates.”

Question 29

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

Answer 29

Overturned the Defense of Marriage Act. Made gay marriages legal nationwide by claiming that states that refused to allow marriages were violating the 14th Amendment’s right to equal protection under the law.