SCOTUS Examples Flashcards
(23 cards)
Example of SCOTUS influencing immigration policy (Arizona)
In the case of Arizona v. United States (2012), the federal government argued that several of Arizona’s state immigration laws were prompted by federal immigration laws; the Supreme Court agreed 5-3 that 3 out of the 4 state laws were unconstitutional.
Example of SCOTUS influencing immigration policy (EO)
In 2018, SCOTUS upheld Trump’s ban on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries, delivering Trump a political victory and an endorsement of his power to control immigration.
Example of SCOTUS influencing immigration policy (green card)
In 2020, the narrowly divided SCOTUS allowed the Trump administration to begin enforcing a rule making it harder for poor immigrants to gain green cards. The justices in a 5-4 vote along ideological lines said that they would let the controversial immigration rules go forward as the lower courts wrestle with multiple legal challenges against them
Example of SCOTUS influencing civil rights policy (race)
In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), SCOTUS unanimously ruled that state-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and therefore unconstitutional. This set a legal precedent to further challenge the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine, institutionalised by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), in a range of other domains. Hence, one can go on to argue that the Brown ruling, in the long-term, prompted the success of the 1964 Civil Rights Act which ended racial segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin.
Example of SCOTUS influencing civil rights policy (sex)
In United States v. Virginia (1996), SCOTUs ruled that sex-based “separate but equal” military training facilities violate the Equal protection clause.
Example of SCOTUS influencing civil rights policy (AA)
In Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), SCOTUS ruled that a narrowly tailored use of race in student admission decisions may be permissible under the Equal Protection Clause.
Example of SCOTUS influencing civil rights policy (gay)
In Obergefell v Hodges (2015), the Supreme Court found state laws banning same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional by a 5-to-4 vote.
Example of SCOTUS influencing abortion (1973)
Roe v. Wade (1973) was a landmark SCOTUS decision which ruled that the Constitution protects a pregnant woman’s ability to have an abortion without excessive government restriction, striking down many state and federal abortion laws.
Example of SCOTUS influencing abortion (2016)
In the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt (2016), SCOTUS ruled that 2 abortion restrictions in Texas were unconstitutional because they would shut down most clinics in the state and cause Texans an “undue burden” to access safe, legal abortion.
Example of SCOTUS influencing abortion (2014)
In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014), SCOTUS ruled that closely held, for-profit corporations have free exercise rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. As applied to such corporations, the requirement of Obamacare that employers provide their female employees with contraception violates this Act.
Example of SCOTUS being THOL in public policy (Obamacare 2012)
In NFIB v. Sebelius (2012), SCOTUS upheld Congress’s power to enact most of the provisions of Obamacare, including the individual mandate to purchase health insurance as a constitutional exercise of Congress’s taxing power.
Example of SCOTUS being THOL in public policy (Abortion)
In Gonzales v. Carhart (2007), SCOTUS upheld Bush’s Partial-Abortion Ban Act (2003) after ruling that it does not violate a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.
Example of SCOTUS being THOL in public policy (Obamacare 2015)
In King v. Burwell (2015), SCOTUS upheld the use of federal tax credits for those purchasing health insurance through federal exchanges. This was a major victory for Obama as it guaranteed the survival of Obamacare until at least the 2016 election.
Example of SCOTUS not being THOL in public policy (Contraception)
In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014), SCOTUS ruled that closely held for-profit corporations to be exempt from a regulation its owners if there is a less restrictive means of furthering the law’s interest. This directly struck down the contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requiring employers to cover certain contraceptives for their female employees.
Example of SCOTUS not being THOL in public policy (states rights)
In United States v. Morrison (2000), SCOTUS also struck down the section of the Violence Against Women Act (1994) that gives victims of gender-motivated violence the right to sue their attackers in federal court as an unconstitutional intrusion on states rights.
In Printz v. United States (1997), SCOTUS ruled that the interim provision of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act that requires state and local officials to conduct background checks on firearm purchases violates the 10th Amendment.
Who did Trump nominate to SCOTUS?
In 2017, Trump successfully nominated Neil Gorsuch to SCOTUS to succeed the late-Antonin Scalia due to his conservative credentials.
Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 due to his conservative philosophy also. A statistical analysis by The Washington Post estimated that he was more conservative than Gorsuch and he had the most conservative overall voting record on the DC Court between 2003 and 2018.
Example of Gorsuch conservatism
When SOTUS struck down a an Arkansas law that treated same-sex couples differently than opposite-sex couples on their children’s birth certificates, Gorsuch dissented.
Who did Obama nominate to SCOTUS?
Liberal Obama nominated Elena Kagan (2010) and Sonia Sotomayor (2009) due to their liberal judicial philosophies.
Example of Kagan liberalism
Sotomayor has made impassioned dissents on issues of race, gender and ethnic identity, including in Trump v. Hawaii (2018) which upheld Trump’s travel ban.
Example of judge as neutral umpire
Justices may rule against their own stated preferences, e.g. Justice Kennedy in the Texas v Johnson judgment wrote “The hard fact is that sometimes we must make decisions we do not like. We make them because they are right, right in the sense that the law and the Constitution, as we see them, compel the result.”
Examples of SCOTUS being political
In 2016, SCOTUS blocked Obama’s plan to spare millions of immigrants in the country illegally from deportation.
In addition, in NFIB v. Sebelius (2012), SCOTUS upheld Congress’s power to enact most of the provisions of Obamacare, including the individual mandate to purchase health insurance as a constitutional exercise of Congress’s taxing power.
In Gonzales v. Carhart (2007), SCOTUS upheld Bush’s Partial-Abortion Ban Act (2003) after ruling that it does not violate a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.
In King v. Burwell (2015), SCOTUS upheld the use of federal tax credits for those purchasing health insurance through federal exchanges. This was a major victory for Obama as it guaranteed the survival of Obamacare until at least the 2016 election.
Example of SCOTUS impacting civil liberties
In Roe v. Wade (1973), SCOTUS ruled that the Constitution protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.
In Obergefell v Hodges (2015), the Supreme Court found state laws banning same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional by a 5-to-4 vote.
In Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), SCOTUS ruled that Connecticut’s ban on the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy
Example of SCOTUS not impacting civil liberties
SCOTUS only typically accepts 100-150 of the more than 7,000 cases that it is asked to review annually. Therefore, its ability to act as third house of the legislature is limited.
In 2017, SCOTUS declined to hear a lawsuit brought by Nebraska and Oklahoma opposing Colorado’s regulation of the sale and cultivation of legalised marijuana.
In 2019, SCOTUS declined to review a Kentucky law that requires a pregnant individual to receive an ultrasound before having an abortion.
