US Supreme Court Cases
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- The Supreme Court can declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.
- Marbury v. Madison (1803)
- Powers granted to Congress by the Constitution are to be broadly construed
- McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
- A corporate franchise is a contract, wich the Constitution forbids a state legislature to impair.
- Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)
- The power of Congress to regulate commerce extends to all forms of interstate commerce and to local commerce that affects commerce among the states.
- Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
- Negroes cannot be citizens, and Congress cannot control slavery in the territories; the Missouri Compromise is unconstitutional.
- Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
- The president cannot order the trial of civilians by military courts in areas outside the military theater.
- Ex parte Milligan (1866)
- Equal protection under the 14th Amendment applies only to state action, not to discrimination by privaet persons.
- Civil Rights Cases (1883)
- the 14th Amendment does not incorporate the criminal procedure provisions of the Bill of Rights.
- Hurtado v. California (1884)
- Under the "seperate but equal" doctrine, racial segregation on public carriers does not deny equal protection.
- Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
- a 10-hour-day law for bakers is a denial of freedom of contract.
- Lochner v. New York (1905)
- the federal Child Labor Act unconstitutionally interferes with right of the states to regulate manufacturing
- Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918)
- speech cannot be punished unless there is a "clear and present danger" that it will lead to evils Congress has a right to prevent.
- Schenck v. United States (1919)
- the 14th Amendment due process clause makes 1st Amendment's free speech provisions applicable to the states.
- Gitlow v. New York (1925)
- The National Industrial Recovery Act providing for self-regulation of industry is unconstitutional.
- Schechter Poultry Corp v. United States
- The court upholds the Wagner Act and returns to a broad interpretation of the commerce power.
- NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. (1937)
- State minimum wage laws for women are valid; the court abandons substantive due process in the economic field.
- West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937)
- 1st Amendment freedoms have a "preferred position" over other rights.
- Bridges v. California (1941)
- President Truman's seizure of steel mills to assure munitions for troops in Korea is unconstitutional
- Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952)
- Racial segregation in the public school denies equal protection
- Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
- obscenity is defined and held not to be protected by the 1st Amendment.
- Roth v. United States (1957)
- the court begins to make all criminal procedure provisions of the Bill of Rights effective in state prosecutions.
- Mopp v. Ohio (1961)
- A state-sponsored program of prayers in the public schools is unconstitutional
- Engel v. Vitale (1962)
- Courts can hear complaints against unequal apportionment of populat among legislative districts.
- Baker v. Carr (1962)
- in state criminal prosecutions counsel must be provided if the defendant cannot afford to retain it.
- Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
- The rule of "one man, one vote" requires all state legislators to be elected from districts roughly equal in population.
- Reynolds v. Sims (1964)
- Public officials can secure libel judgments against newspaper only where falsehoods are known to be such and malicious
- New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
- State law forbidding birth control information is an unconstitutional invasion of right to privacy.
- Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
- suspects under police inquiry must be notified of their rights, including right to counsel, or confessions will be invalid.
- Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
- Persons opposed to war on moral or ethical grounds are entitled to draft exemption as conscientious objectors.
- Welsh v. United States (1970)
- Voided the government's injunction against publication of the Pentagon Papers by the New York Times and the Washington Post.
- New York Times Co. v. United States (1971)
- Limited power of states to restrict abortions, especially in the first three months of pregnancy.
- Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton (1973)
- The president cannot claim executive privilege and refuse to yield evidence needed in a criminal trial.
- United States v. Nixon (1974)
- Upheld restricted legitimacy of capital punishment for murder.
- Gregg v. Georgia, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana (1976)