Key Supreme court cases

Question 1

Marbury V Madison

Answer 1

1803: Established precedent of judicial review of legislation

Question 2

McCulloch v Maryland

Answer 2

1819: Gave power to the federal government. Bank of the US is constitutional under the Constitution’s elastic clause (Article 1, section 8)

Question 3

Gibbons v Ogden

Answer 3

1824: Gave power to the federal government. Congress has the right under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause to regulate interstate commerce (Article 1, section 8).

Question 4

Dred Scott v Sanford

Answer 4

1857: Enslaved persons are not citizens. Affirmation of Fugitive Slave Act. Congress could not forbid expansion of slavery to US territories (Missouri Compromise unconstitutional because it would unlawfully deprive owners of legal property if they moved to a territory).

Question 5

Plessy v Ferguson

Answer 5

1896: Separate but equal

Question 6

Korematsu v US

Answer 6

1945: decided that internment of Japanese was legal

Question 7

Brown v Board of Education

Answer 7

1954: Overturned Plessy v Ferguson. Mandated public school integration.

Question 8

Loving v Virginia

Answer 8

1967: Right to interracial marriage.

Question 9

Obergfell v Hodges

Answer 9

2015: Right to same-sex marriage.