Court Cases

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The Charles River Bridge Case: 1837- Demonstrated that a contract could be broken to benefit general welfare. Suggested that state could cancel grant money if grant ceased to be in interest of community. Served as reversal of Dartmouth.
Baker vs. Carr: 1962- 14th- Population growth in Nashville, TN legis. would not draw up new districts. Mayor asked federal court help. Federal court would not join in. Court directed trial into TN federal court. Led to Wesberry decision, created the "one man, one vote" equal representation concept.
Hopwood vs. Texas: Federal appeals court decision. Against affirmative action, TX, number of minority students in the state's public universities temporarily plummeted.
Dred Scott (vs. Sandford) Case: March 6, 1857. Dred Scott, a black slave, had lived with master for 5 years in Illinois and Wisconsin territory. Backed by abolitionists, he sued for freedom on the basis of his long residence on free soil. Ruled that Dred Scott was a black slave, not a citizen, so he could not sue in federal court. Decided to go further- judgment on larger issue of slavery in territories. Majority of court decreed that because a slave was private property, he or she could be taken into any territory and legally held there in slavery. 5th amendment forbade Congress to deprive people of property without due process of law. Missouri Compromise (banning slavery north of 36 30 line) had been repealed 3 years earlier by Kansas Nebraska Act. Spirit still in north. Now Court ruled that the Compromise of 1820 had been unconstitutional all along- Congress had no power to ban slavery from the territories. Southerners happy. Republicans infuriated.
Northern Securities: 1904- Railway promoters appealed to Supreme Court, 1904 upheld TR's antitrust suit and ordered Northern Securities Company to be dissolved. Decision jolted Wall Street and angered big business but enhanced TR's rep as trust-buster.
Escobedo vs. Illinois: 1964- 6th. Person confessed to murder but not provided with lawyer while under questioning. Court extended exclusionary rule to illegal confessions in state courts. Said that if questioning has focused and the suspect wants his lawyer but does not get one and the police have not warned him of his right to remain silent, the accused has been denied 6th amendment rights.
United States vs. Wheeler: 1978- Court decided that Indian tribes had unique and limited sovereignty, subject to Congress but not individual states.
Frontiero vs. Richardson: 1973- Court challenged sex discrimination in legislation and employment
Heart of Atlanta Motel vs. United States: 1964- Court said that the power of Congress to promote interstate commerce also includes the power to regulate the local incidents thereof, including local activities which have a substantial and harmful effect upon that commerce. Racial segregation of private facilities engaged in interstate commerce was found unconstitutional.
Sweatt vs. Painter: 1950- Thurgood Marshall- Court ruled that separate professional schools for blacks failed to meet test of equality.
Grutter vs. Bollinger: 2003- Tie with Gratz. Court allowed to stand a more flexible, individually based minority admissions procedure for the Michigan law school, but was uneasy with its decision and figured that in 25 years, such laws wouldn't be necessary.
Plessy vs. Ferguson: 1896- Court validated the South's segregationist social order. Ruled that "separate but equal" facilities were constitutional under the "equal protection" clause of the 14th amendment. (Even though they were not equal). Reversed by Brown vs. Board of Education
Wabash Case: 1886- Decreed that individual states had no power to regulate interstate commerce. (About how many legislatures tried to regulate railroad monopoly.) Had to have federal action.
Griggs vs. Duke Power Company: 1971- Court prohibited intelligence tests or other devices that had the effect of excluding minorities or women from certain jobs. Suggested to employers that the only sure protection against charges of discrimination was to hire minority workers, or students, in proportion to their population.
Schenck vs. United States: 1919- Around this time, with war, any criticism of government could be censored and punished. Some people thought they were against first amendment. But in this case, the Court said they were legal, arguing that freedom of speech could be revoked when such speech posed a clear and present danger to the nation.
Marbury vs. Madison: William Marbury had been commissioned justice of the peace in DC by John Adams (President). Commission was part of "midnight appointments" made during his last days in office. Marbury's commission was not delivered, so he sued Jefferson's Sec. of State, James Madison. Chief Justice John Marshall held that while Marbury was entitled to the commission, the statute that allowed Marbury's remedy was unconstitutional, as it granted the Supreme Court powers beyond what the Constitution permitted. Paved the way for judicial review, which gave courts the power to declare statutes unconstitutional. (Marshall said that the part of the Judiciary Act of 1789 on which Marbury tried to base his appeal was unconstitutional). 1803
Planned Parenthood vs. Casey: 1992- Court ruled that states could restrict access to abortion as long as they did not place an "undue burden" on the woman. Court held that PA could not compel a wife to tell her husband about an abortion, but that a minor child would have to notify parents, with other restrictions.
Schechter case: 1935- Supreme Court shot down eagle of NRA (National Recovery Administration). Unanimous- Congress could not delegate legislative powers to the executive. Said that congressional control of interstate commerce could not properly apply to a local fowl business, like that of the Schechter brothers in Brooklyn.
Commonwealth vs. Hunt: Supreme Court of Mass. ruled that (1842) labor unions were not illegal conspiracies, provided their methods were honorable and peaceful. Significant step for labor unions.
Reynolds vs. Sims: 1964- States should have state legis. rep. recounted every 10 years, but by 1950s, some states weren't doing it. Complaint by Alabama people. Challenged Alabama legislature, still based on 1900 federal census. Court supported "one person, one vote" formula. Called for reapportionment based on current census data.
Scopes Trial: "Monkey Trial" in Dayton, TN. 1925- Biology teacher Scopes, indicted for teaching evolution. Scopes against William Jennings Bryan. Criminal lawyer against Bryan= Clarence Darrow. Scopes found guilty but did not have to pay fine. Fundamentalists were kind of ridiculed. But Fundamentalism was still strong.
Burr Conspiracy Trial: Burr planned to take Mexico from Spain and establish new nation in the West. Arrested, fugitive after Hamilton's death, tried for treason. Acquitted- let go. Marshall determined that the charge of treason required more than just proof of conspiracy to commit treason- helped narrow legal definition. 1806
Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services: July 1989- Compromised Roe's protection of abortion rights. Approved Missouri Law that imposed restrictions on abortion, showed that states could now interfere
Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas: 14th amendment. 8 year old girl from Topeka, Kansas was not permitted to attend neighborhood school because black. Court found that segregation itself was violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson. Said separate was unequal. Instructed states to integrate. 1954
Korematsu vs. United States: 1944- 5th amendment. 2 months after Pearl Harbor, FDR ordered internment of Japs Americans on West Coast. Citizens but it didn't matter. Korematsu would not report and was arrested. Court rejected appeal. Said was pressing public necessity.
Miranda vs. Arizona: 1966- 5, 6, 14 amendments. Miranda arrested, signed confession including statement that he had full knowledge of legal rights. After conviction, appealed, said that without counsel and warnings, confession was illegally obtained. Court agreed that should be warned prior to any question. Upheld citizens' rights to a fair trial in state courts.
Furman vs. Georgia: 1972- 8th. Issue of racial imbalances in use of death sentences by state courts. So many states rewrote death penalty statutes.
Adkins vs. Children's Hospital: 1923- Court reversed reasoning from Muller vs. Oregon, which had declared women to be deserving of special protection in the workplace, and invalidated a minimum-wage law for women. Said that since women now had the vote (19th amendment) they were legal equals of men and could not be protected by special legislation.
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial: Anti-redism. Convicted 1921 of murder of Mass. paymaster and his guard. Jury and judge prejudiced because defendants were Italian, atheists, anarchist, draft dodgers, etc. Electrocuted 6 years later
Roe vs. Wade: 1973- 9th amendment. TX woman challenged state law saying no abortion, saying that she had right to privacy. Court upheld right to choose. Struck down state regulation of abortion in the first 3 weeks of pregnancy.
Gibbons vs. Ogden: 1824- NY state tried to grant to a private concern a monopoly of waterborne commerce between NY and NJ. Marshall reminded state that Constitution conferred on Congress alone the control of interstate commerce. Blow at states' rights, sovereign powers of federal government
Civil Rights Cases: Civil Rights Act of 1875- Supposedly guaranteed equal accommodations in public places and prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection, but it was toothless. Supreme Court pronounced much of it unconstitutional in Civil Rights Cases (1883). Said that 14th amendment prohibited only government violations of civil rights, not denial of them by individuals. Limited impact of Equal Protection Clause.
Bakke vs. Regents of the University of California: Supreme Court upheld university's use of race in admissions decisions (favored minority applicants). Court found that Bakke, a white, should have been admitted to the university's medical school. Said that preference in admissions could not be given to members of any group based on ethnic or racial identity alone. But racial factors could come into play for overall admissions. This holding banned the use of racial quotas. 1978
Cohens vs. Virginia: 1821- Marshall got to defend federal power. Cohens were found guilty by VA courts of illegally selling lottery tickets. VA "won" because conviction was upheld in higher courts. But VA and all individual states lost, because Marshall resoundingly asserted the right of the Supreme Court to review the decisions of the state courts in all questions involving federal government powers.
Muller vs. Oregon: 1908- Louis Brandeis. Supreme Court accepted constitutionality of laws protecting women workers by presenting evidence of the harmful effects of factory labor on women's weaker bodies. Progressives ironically hailed this.
Reed vs. Reed: 1971- Court challenged sex discrimination in legislation and employment.
Fletcher vs. Peck: First time that state law was voided on the grounds that it violated a principle of the US Constitution. HA legislature had issued land grants in corrupt deal. Legislative session repealed it because of corruptness. Supreme Court decided that the original contract was valid, regardless of corruption. Reaffirmed the sanctity of contracts. 1810
Lochner vs. New York: 1905- Asserted principle of "judicial deference" to legislatures. Dismaying setback for progressives. Supreme Court invalidated NY law establishing a 10-hour work day for bakers.
Milliken vs. Bradley: 1974- Court blindsided school integrationists when it ruled that desegregation plans could not require students to move across school-district lines. Exempted suburban districts from shouldering any part of the burden of desegregating inner-city schools, thereby reinforcing "white flight." Put all problems of desegregation into least prosperous districts.
Abrams vs. United States: 1919- Protected free speech even for "opinions that we loathe"
McCulloch vs. Maryland: 1819- MD tried to destroy a branch of the bank of the United States by imposing a tax on its notes. Marshall declared the bank constitutional by invoking Hamiltonian doctrine of implied powers. Strengthened federal authority and slapped at state infringements when he denied the right of MD to tax the bank. Doctrine of "loose construction" its most famous formulation.
New York Times vs. Sullivan: 1964- Public figures could sue for libel only if they could prove that malice had motivated defamers. Wide door for freewheeling criticism of public and private actions of public figures, like politicians, etc.
Hammer vs. Dagenhart: Struck down Keating-Owen Act of 1916, which excluded products made by child labor in interstate commerce. Dagenhart sued, wanted 2 sons to work to get income for family. Court held that Congress had overstepped boundaries. Led to "dual federalism," Congress could not take powers that had been reserved to states by 10th amendment. 1918
Griswold vs. Connecticut: 1965- 14th amendment. CT law against use of contraceptives. Griswold, director of Planned Parenthood in New Haven, was arrested for counseling married couples. Appealed. Court overturned CT law, said Constitution called for privacy. Examined concept of "unenumerated rights" in 9th amendment.
United States vs. Wong Kim Ark: Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, prohibited all further immigration from China. Stayed shut until 1943. Some people even tried to stop native-born Chinese Americans of citizenship, but 1898 Court ruled that 14th amendment guaranteed citizenship to everyone born in US. "Birthright citizenship," or "jus soli"- the right of the soil. Protections to immigrant communities.
Engel vs. Vitale: 1st amendment- Board of Regents of NY required recitation of a prayer at the beginning of each school day. Parents filed against it, said it violated 1st amendment. Court ruled NY's action unconstitutional. 1962
Gratz vs. Bollinger: 2003- Court declared unconstitutional a numerical formula for admitting minority undergraduate students to the U of Michigan.
Martin vs. Wilks: 1989- Tie with Ward's Cove Packing- Court made it more difficult to prove that an employer practiced racial discrimination in hiring and made it easier for white males to argue that they were the victims of reverse discrimination by employers who followed affirmative-action programs.
School District of Abington Townships vs. Schempp: 1st amendment. PA parents challenged state law that required Bible readings at school. Court agreed.
Dennis vs. United States: 1949- 11 communists brought before NY jury for violating Smith Act of 1940, the first peacetime anti-sedition law since 1798. Convicted of advocating the overthrow of the American government by force, were sent to prison. Supreme Court upheld convictions in this case in 1951.
Ward's Cove Packing vs. Antonia: 1989- Tie with Martin vs. Wilks- Court made it more difficult to prove that an employer practiced racial discrimination in hiring and made it easier for white males to argue that they were the victims of reverse discrimination by employers who followed affirmative-action programs.
Insular Cases: 1901- Question- Did American laws, including tariff laws and the bill of Rights, apply with full force to the newly acquired possessions? Supreme Court decreed that the flag did outrun the Constitution, and that the outdistanced document did not necessarily extend with full force to the new windfall. Puerto Ricans and Filipinos may be subject to American rule, but they did not get American rights.
Nuremburg Trials: 1945-1946. 22 Nazi criminals tried. Crimes against laws of war and humanity and plotting aggressions against treaty pledges. 12 hung and 7 jailed. Solution to what to do with Germany after war.
Dartmouth College vs. Woodward: 1819- Marshall. College had been granted charter by King George III in 1769, but democratic NH state legislature had seen fit to change it. Dartmouth appealed the case, Webster used (alumni). Marshall said that the original charter must stand. Was a contract, protected by the Constitution. Anti-state. Effect: safeguarded business enterprise from domination by the state governments.
Gideon vs. Wainwright: 14th amendment. Gideon charged with break-in to a poolroom. Could not afford lawyer, FL would not provide council for trials not involving death penalty. Gideon could not defend self well and got 5 years in prison. Court called for new trial, said he should have council, poor person facing felony charge. Found not guilty with help of court attorney. 1963
Zenger Trials: Zenger was a German American newspaper publisher and printer. Assailed corrupt royal governor. Charged with seditious libel. Argued that had printed truth. Not Guilty. Set precedent for freedom of the press. Supreme Court reinvigorated free press rights.1735

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