The Top 30 Supreme Court Cases
As you study these cases pay attention to their precedents, rules, and standards. Also note how many cases involve the first and
Fourteenth Amendments.
CLASSIC MARSHALL COURT CASES
1. Marbury v. Madison (l803)
 Established the principle of judicial review.
 Strengthened the power of the judicial branch by giving the Supreme Court the authority to declare acts of Congress'
unconstitutional.
2. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
 Confirmed the right of Congress to utilize implied powers to carry out its expressed powers.
 Validated the supremacy of the national government over the states by declaring that states cannot interfere with or tax the
legitimate activities of the federal government.
"
3. Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
 Strengthened the power of the federal government to regulated interstate commerce.
 Established the commerce clause's role as a key vehicle for the expansion of federal power.
FIRST AMENDMENT: ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE CASES
4. Engel v. Vitale (1962)
 Struck down state-sponsored prayer in public schools.
 Ruled that the Regents' prayer was an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause.
..
5. Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
 Struck down state funding for private religious schools.
 Ruled that state aid to church-related schools must meet three tests: (a) the purpose of the aid must be
clearly secular, (b) the government's action must neither advance nor inhibit religion, and (c) the government's action must
not foster an "excessive entanglement" between government and religion.
FIRST AMENDMENT: FREE EXERCISE CLAUSE CASES
6. Reynolds v. United States (1879)
 Banned polygamy.
,
 Distinguished between religious beliefs that are protected: by the Free Exercise Clause and r.eligious practices that may be
restricted.
 Ruled that religious practices cannot make an act legal that would otherwise be illegal.
7. Oregon v. Smith (1990)
 Banned the use of illegal drugs in religious ceremonies.
 Ruled that the government can act when religious practices violate criminal laws.
FIRST AMENDMENT: FREE SPEECH CASES
8. Schenk v. United States (1919)
 Ruled that free speech could be limited when it “presents a clear and present danger….”
 Established the “clear and present danger” test to define conditions under which public authorities can limit free speech.
9. New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
 Ruled that public officials cannot win a suit for defamation unless the statement is made with "actual malice."
 Established the "actual malice" standard to promote "uninhibited, robust, and wide-open" public debate.
10. Roth v. United States (1951)
 Ruled that obscenity is not constitutionally protected free speech.
 Created the "prevailing community standards" rule requiring a consideration of the work as a whole.
11. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District (1969)
 Protected some forms of symbolic speech.
 Ruled that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
12. Texas v. Johnson (1989)
 Ruled that flag burning is a form of symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment.
THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT: SELECTIVE INCORPORATION CASES
13. Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
 Ruled that the Bill of Rights cannot be applied to the states.
14. Gitlow v, New York (1925)
 Established precedent for the doctrine of selective incorporation, thus extending most of the requirements of the Bill of
Rights to the states.
THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT: DUE PROCESS CLAUSE CASES
15. Weeks v. United States (1914)
 Established the exclusionary rule in federal cases.
 Prohibited evidence obtained by illegal searches and seizures from being admitted in court.
16. Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
 Extended the exclusionary rule to the states,
 Illustrated the process of selective incorporation through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
17. Gideon v: Wainwright (1963)
 Ruled that the Sixth Amendment right-to-counsel provision applies to those accused of major crimes under state laws.
 Illustrated the process of incorporation by which the Sixth Amendment was applied to the states through the Due Process
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
18. Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
 Ruled that the police must inform criminal suspects of• their constitutional rights before questioning suspects after arrest.
 Required police to read the Miranda rules to criminal suspects.
THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT: EQUAL PROTECTION CASES
19. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
 Ruled that African Americans were not citizens and. therefore could not petition the Supreme Court.
 Overturned by the Fourteenth Amendment.
20. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
 Upheld Jim Crow segregation by approving "separate but equal" public facilities for African Americans.
21. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
 Ruled that racially segregated schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
 Reversed the principle of "separate but equal" established in Plessy v. Ferguson.
22. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
 Ordered the Medical School at the University of California at Davis to admit Bakke.
 Ruled that the medical school's strict quota system dented Bakke the equal protection guaranteed by the
Fourteenth Amendment.
 Ruled that race could be used as one factor among others in the competition for available places
23. Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
 Upheld the affirmative action policy of the University of Michigan Law School.
 Upheld the Bakke ruling that race could be consideration in admissions policy but that quotas are illegal.
THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY
24. Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
 Ruled that a Connecticut law criminalizing the use of contraceptives violated the right to marital privacy.
 Established an important precedent for Roe v. Wade.
25. Roe v. Wade (1973)
 Ruled that the decision to obtain an abortion is protected by the right to privacy implied by the Bill of
Rights.
APPORTIONMENT CASES
26. Baker v. Carr (1962)
 Ruled that the judicial branch of government can rule on matters of legislative apportionment.
 Used the principle of "one person, one vote."
 Ordered state legislative districts to be as equal as possible.
27. Wesberry v. Sanders (1963)
 Established the principle of "one person, one vote" in drawing congressional districts.
 Triggered widespread redistricting that gave cities and suburbs greater representation in Congress.
MISCELLANEOUS CASES
28. Korematsu v. United States (1944)
 Upheld the constitutionality of the relocation of Japanese Americans as a wartime necessity.
 Viewed by contemporary scholars as a flagrant violation of civil liberties.
.
29. United States v. Nixon (1974)
 Ruled that there is no constitutional guarantee of unqualified executive privilege.
30. Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
 Upheld federal limits on campaign contributions.
 Struck down the portion of the Federal Election Campaign Act limiting the amount of money individuals can contribute to
their own campaign.
 Ruled that spending money on one’s own campaign is a form of constitutionally protected free speech.
 Complicated congressional efforts to enact significant campaign finance reform.