Advanced Placement US History
Review-Supreme Court
1.
Judiciary Act (1789) Sets up Federal Court system. John Jay is chosen 1st Chief Justice. Lock of
information in constitution as to exact powers.
2.
Marbury v. Madison (1803) Defines an important function of Court power judicial review, or power to
declare laws unconstitutional
3.
Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819) Decision declares contract “sacred” in the eyes of the law.
[Fletcher v. Peck (1810) is the 1st such law to sanctify contracts]
4.
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) Court rules that states cannot tax Federal institutions and declares a state
cannot tax an agency chartered by the Federal govt. “The power to tax involves the power to destroy”
Upholds constitutionality of BUS.
5.
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) Court decision that gives Federal govt. control of commerce between states.
6.
Worcester v. Georgia (1830) Court sees Cherokee Indian claim to land in Georgia as valid President
Jackson’s reply: “Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”
7.
Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge (1837) New Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s 1st significant
decision. At issue: contracts and the community’s rights. Court finds that an issued charter to one
company could not exclude the competition form a 2nd company. Taney modifies Marshall Court’s sanctity
of contract and rules that states could amend or void a contract when the public good required it.
8.
Dred Scott v. Stanford (1857) Declares that Negroes could never be citizens and were not entitled to bring
suit under federal jurisdiction. It also stated that residence within the state was all that citizenship signified.
Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional.
9.
Ex parte Milligan (1866) Lambdin Milligan, a member of a secret society called the Order of American
Knights who worked to help the South and hamper the Union war effort. He was arrested for urging
Northern men to resist the draft, plotting to overthrow the govt., and aiding its enemies. –Milligan was tried
and convicted by a military commission established by Lincoln. –The Court ruled that civilians could not
be tried in military courts if civilian courts were open. (Really at question was the power of the president to
violate the constitution in the name of war.)
10. Munn v. Illinois (1877) Upheld Illinois provision against discriminatory business practices, and declared
that when private property is “affected with public interest” it must be controlled foe the good of the public.
It also upheld police power of state regulation. In Munn’s case, he owned a silo and wished to charge his
own fees.
11. Wabash Case (1886) Wabash, St. Louis, Pacific Railway Company violates a Granger law passed by
Illinois state legislature which prohibited railroads from charging more for short hauls than long hauls. –
Law was found unconstitutional; R.R.s engaged in interstate commerce so was under the control of the
Federal govt. Stimulated by the Wabash case, in 1887, Congress passes the Interstate Commerce Actwhich regulated the railroads.
12. In re Debs (1889) Court sustained Pres. Cleveland’s injunction and issuance of troops to Chicago to deal
with Pullman strike
13. United States v. E.C. Knight Co. (1895) Deals with the issue of national power. Ruled that Congress has
the right to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies.
14. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) Equal protection of the civil rights laws was not violated if the segregated
facilities provided for Negroes were equal. Negroes were treated as “separate, but equal”- Segregation
OK’d.
Advanced Placement US History
Review-Supreme Court
15. Insular Cases [i.e. Downes v. Bidwell] (1901-1903) American imperialism- Court settles the status of
island possessions- Not all provisions of the Constitution apply top those who live outside continental
boundaries of US > The Constitution does not follow the flag.
16. Northern Securities Case (1904) T. Roosevelt fights with railroad trusts. –J.P. Morgan and James J. hill
had been working gain a monopoly of the railroads in the Northwest. Court upholds Roosevelt’s fight and
order Northern Securities Company to dissolve. >Sets T.R.’s reputation as a trustbuster.
17. Locher v. New York (1905) Deals with the issue of property rights and economic policy and civil liberties.
It established that the Supreme Court has the power to oversee state regulations. And ruled that a New York
law limiting baker’s hours was unconstitutional because it interfered with workers’ Fourteenth Amendment
right to sell their labor to their employers.
18. Muller v. Oregon (1908) Sets maximum working hours for women. Will set a precedent for later 8-hour
day for all workers not attained until the New Deal era.
19. Schenck v. US (1919) Established concept of “clear and present danger.” Protective of freedom of speech –
it required the relationship between speech and illegal act to be proximate, meaning one has freedom of
speech unless the words are harmful to the public. (i.e. one cannot yell fire in a crowed theater)- Schenck
was opposing America and her war effort in WWI in public. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Jr. -- known as "the Great Dissenter" for his principled stands during three decades on the
U.S. Supreme Court.
20. Shechter Poultry Corp. v. US (1935) Decision deals deathblow to FDR’s NRA. Dubbed the “sick
chicken” case Congress cannot delegate its lawmaking powers to an executive agency. – The beginning
of many reversals of FDR’s New Deal agencies.
21. Butler v. US (1936) Decision deals deathblow to FDR’s AAA with some of the same reasoning as Shecter
Poultry Corp. v. US.
22. Korematsu v. US (1944) Fred Korematsu, a Japanese American who had lived all his life in California
refused the order to be relocated to an internment camp. He was arrested and sent to a relocation camp in
Utah. He argued that his rights were violated under the 5th Amendment: he had been deprived of liberty &
property “without due process of law.” Court upholds actions. (In 1988, US govt. officially apologizes and
approves $20,000 to each camp survivor.)
23. Sweatt v. Painter (1950) Deals with the issue of race relations. Although the ruling was a more narrow
holding than the decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), it nonetheless made clear that
the separate but equal standard established by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was unattainable—at least in
state‐supported higher education. By implication, the principle was not achievable in any area of public
life.
24. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) Reverses Plessy v. Ferguson, and its “separate,
but equal doctrine. The Court, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, held unanimously that segregation in
public education was a denial of equal protection of the laws, therefore violating the 14th Amendment.
“Separate is inherently unequal”
25. Watkins v. United States (1957) Deals with civil liberties. Ruled that the House Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC) could not punish at will those witness who refused to cooperate.
26. Mapp v. Ohio (1961) Deals with the issue of avenues of representation and the issue of federalism. It
upheld the principle that population is the only acceptable basis for the apportionment of seats in a
legislative body. It also established that the Supreme Court has cases when that reapportionment threatens
voters rights.
27. Engle v. Vitale (1962) Held that “it is no part of the business of government to impose official prayers to be
recited as a part of a religious program carried on by government” Separation of church and state.
Advanced Placement US History
Review-Supreme Court
28. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) Deals with the issue of civil liberties. Ruled that to deny legal representation
to defendants who can not afford to pay for it is a violation of those individual’s constitutional rights.
29. Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) A person in police custody has the right to speak to an attorney.
30. Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964) Deals with the Constitutional principle of equality and
National power. It found racial segregation of private facilities engaged in interstate commerce
unconstitutional.
31. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) Right to privacy – married couples get right to use contraceptives, will
lead to Roe v. Wade
32. Miranda v. Arizona (1966) Established so that citizens must have their rights read to them under any arrest.
“You have the right to remain silent…”
33. In re Gault (1967) Juveniles accused with a crime are protected under the due process clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
34. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) Deals with civil liberties. It ruled
that certain kinds of nonverbal communication can be protected under the First Amendment. In this case
the wearing of armbands is a legitimate form of protest under the First Amendment, even on public school
grounds.
35. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971) Burger Court – Federal courts could order
busing to desegregate schools, but opens door for Federal courts to get out of integration business (seen as a
step backward for civil rights)
36. New York Times Co. v. United States (1971) Deals with the leaking by Daniel Ellsberg of the Pentagon
Papers. & the government's desire to keep the "Pentagon Papers" classified. Court rules that there was
insufficient to overcome 1st Amendment hurdle. At issue is civil liberties. It gave the media more power
against governmental secrecy. And OK’d publication of more of the document regarding past governmental
involvement in Vietnam and other foreign affairs that had been kept form the American people.
37. Roe v. Wade (1973) Legalizes abortion during first 3 months of pregnancy – seen as part of 9th and 14th
Amendment rights
38. Frontiero v. Richardson (1973) Sex-based discriminations are inherently suspect. A statute giving benefits
to the spouses of male, but not female members of the uniformed services (on the assumption that only the
former were dependent) is unconstitutional.
39. US v. Richard Nixon (1974) Part of the Watergate scandal, district court judge John J. Sirica ordered
Richard Nixon to turn over tapes of conversations. Claiming executive privilege he refused. The Court
upheld the lower court’s findings that the claim of executive privilege was outweighed by the special
prosecutor’s need for evidence in a criminal trial.
40. Regents of University of California v. Bakke (1978) In the narrowest of margins (5 to 4), the Court upheld
Allan Bakke’s claim that his application to medical school had been turned down because of an admissions
policy that favored minorities. The Court ruled that preference in admissions could not be given to
members of any group, minority or majority, on the basis of ethnic or racial identity alone.
41. Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation (1978) Defined the power of the FCC to
regulate indecent broadcasts. The so called seven words you cannot say on TV or Radio.
42. New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985) Rules that juveniles have the right to the same protection as adults against
illegal search and seizure. It more clearly defined what constituted a legal search and seizure. (See In re
Gault)
Advanced Placement US History
Review-Supreme Court
43. Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988) Public school curricular student newspapers that have not been established
as forums for student expression are subject to a lower level of First Amendment protection than
independent student expression or newspapers established (by policy or practice) as forums for student
expression.
44. Texas v. Johnson (1989) Law prohibiting burning of the American flag is unconstitutional as violating the
First Amendment.
45. Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health (1990) At issue right to die laws / euthanasia. The
Court’s majority opinion stressed that “clear and convincing” evidence was presented to demonstrate that a
Missouri woman (Cruzan) in a coma from 1983 car accident should have the right to die. Intravenous
feeding was ended with court approval, and Cruzan subsequently died.
46. Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) It stresses civil liberties & rights of women. It struck down the
portions of a Pennsylvania law requiring (1) that a woman seeking an abortion must wait 24 hours between
being informed about the procedure and having it performed and (2) that a married woman must inform her
husband that she planned to have an abortion. It upheld the portion of the law requiring minors to inform
their parents before having an abortion.
47. Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton (1995) Schools may implement random drug testing.
48. Bush v. Gore (2000) US Supreme court ended the recount of ballots in Florida and awarded the US
presidency toGeorge W. Bush.
49. Gonzales v. Carhart (2007) Held that the Congress can prohibit a specific abortion procedure (Intact
dilation and extraction—also known as partial-birth abortion) on grounds that it "implicates additional
ethical and moral concerns that justify a special prohibition."
50. Boumediene v. Bush (2008) foreign terrorism suspects have constitutional rights to challenge their
detention at the Guantánamo Bay naval base in United States courts.