1789–1819 (Group 1)
Case name
Citation
Summary
Beginning of active duty of Chief Justice John Jay, October 19, 1789
first docketed case of the Supreme Court,
Van Staphorst v. Maryland
(1791)
settled before arguments
first decision of the Supreme Court, strictly
2 U.S. 401
West v. Barnes
interpreting procedural filing requirements
(1791)
mandated by statute
A State may sue in the Supreme Court to enjoin
2 U.S. 402
Georgia v. Brailsford
payment of a judgment on foreign debt until it
(1792)
can be ascertained to whom the money belongs
2 U.S. 409
Hayburn's Case
justiciability and separation of powers
(1792)
2 U.S. 415
suits in which states may be a party;
Georgia v. Brailsford
(1793)
continuation of Georgia v. Brailsford (1792)
first “major” case; federal jurisdiction over suits
2 U.S. 419
Chisholm v. Georgia
vs. states; state sovereign immunity; led to
(1793)
Eleventh Amendment
3 U.S. 1
Georgia v. Brailsford
Jury nullification
(1794)
(Group 2)
Beginning of active duty of Chief Justice John Rutledge, August 12, 1795
Federal district court has no authority over a
3 U.S. 121
United States v. Peters
foreign privateer when the captured ship was
(1795)
not within its jurisdiction.
3 U.S. 133
Talbot v. Janson
admiralty and citizenship
(1795)
Beginning of active duty of Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth, March 8, 1796
3 U.S. 171
Hylton v. United States
tax on carriages
(1796)
ratification of Eleventh Amendment,
3 U.S. 378
Hollingsworth v. Virginia
presidential approval is unnecessary for
(1798)
Constitutional amendment
3 U.S. 386
ex post facto clause applies to criminal, not civil
Calder v. Bull
(1798)
cases
4 U.S. 1
first original jurisdiction suit between two
New York v. Connecticut
(1799)
States
Beginning of active duty of Chief Justice John Marshall, February 4, 1801
Talbot v. Seeman
5 U.S. 1
Marine salvage rights in time of war
Marbury v. Madison
Stuart v. Laird
Little v. Barreme
(1801)
5 U.S. 137
(1803)
5 U.S. 299
(1803)
6 U.S. 170
(1804)
(Group 3)
Bailiff v. Tipping
6 U.S. 406
(1805)
7 U.S. 267
(1806)
8 U.S. 75
Ex parte Bollman
(1807)
10 U.S. 87
Fletcher v. Peck
(1810)
United States v. Hudson and
11 U.S. 32
Goodwin
(1812)
The Schooner Exchange v.
11 U.S. 116
M'Faddon
(1812)
Fairfax's Devisee v. Hunter's
11 U.S. 603
Lessee
(1813)
14 U.S. 304
Martin v. Hunter's Lessee
(1816)
15 U.S. 178
Laidlaw v. Organ
(1817)
16 U.S. 594
Craig v. Radford
(1818)
17 U.S. 316
McCulloch v. Maryland
(1819)
17 U.S. 122
Sturges v. Crowninshield
(1819)
Trustees of Dartmouth College v. 17 U.S. 518
Woodward
(1819)
Strawbridge v. Curtiss
judicial review of laws enacted by the United
States Congress
enforceability of rulings issued by judges who
have since been removed from office
presidential and congressional power
a citation (a court order for a person to appear)
must accompany a writ of error in order for the
Supreme Court to hear the case
federal diversity jurisdiction
habeas corpus, definition of treason, Supreme
Court's power to issue writs to circuit courts
property rights
Federal court jurisdiction over common law
crimes
capture and possession of foreign ships
Loyalist property forfeiture
Loyalist property forfeiture, Supreme Court
review of state court judgments
the rule of caveat emptor in a commodity
delivery contract
Jay Treaty protection of alien enemy defeasible
estate; surveying law
doctrine of implied powers
constitutionality of state bankruptcy laws
impairment of contracts
1820–1839 (Group 4)
Case name
Cohens v. Virginia
Citation
19 U.S. 264
(1821)
Summary
judicial review of state supreme court decisions
Johnson v. M'Intosh
Gibbons v. Ogden
Osborn v. Bank of the United
States
The Antelope
Ogden v. Saunders
21 U.S. 8
(1823)
22 U.S. 1
(1824)
22 U.S. 738
(1824)
23 U.S. 66
(1825)
25 U.S. 213
(1827)
inability of Native Americans to own land
Congressional power to regulate interstate
commerce
scope of Article III jurisdiction; interpretation
of the 11th Amendment
The Supreme Court's initial consideration of the
legitimacy of the international slave trade.
state bankruptcy law
(Group 5)
American Ins. Co. v. 356 Bales of 26 U.S. 511 The Territorial Clause and the ability of
(1828)
Congress to set up Article I tribunals
Cotton
Willson v. Black-Bird Creek
27 U.S. 245
Dormant Commerce Clause
Marsh Co.
(1829)
30 U.S. 1
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
Indian nations as foreign states
(1831)
31 U.S. 515
Worcester v. Georgia
Indian removal
(1832)
32 U.S. 243
Barron v. Baltimore
reach of the Bill of Rights
(1833)
32 U.S. 627
Ex Parte Madrazzo
standing in an admiralty case
(1833)
33 U.S. 591
Wheaton v. Peters
copyright perpetuity; common law copyright
(1834)
Beginning of active duty of Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, March 28, 1836
35 U.S. 306 upholding the validity of a Spanish land grant
United States v. Segui
(1836)
in Florida
Charles River Bridge v. Warren 36 U.S. 420
Contract Clause of the Constitution
Bridge
(1837)
1840–1859 (Group 6)
Case name
The Amistad
Swift v. Tyson
Prigg v. Pennsylvania
Citation
40 U.S. 518
(1841)
41 U.S. 1
(1842)
41 U.S. 539
(1842)
Summary
slave trade and slave ownership
Federal common law in diversity jurisdiction
cases, later overturned
runaway slaves
Luther v. Borden
Passenger Cases
Sheldon v. Sill
Hotchkiss v. Greenwood
Strader v. Graham
Cooley v. Board of Wardens
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Ableman v. Booth
48 U.S. 1
(1849)
48 U.S. 283
(1849)
49 U.S. 441
(1850)
52 U.S. 248
(1850)
51 U.S. 82
(1851)
53 U.S. 299
(1852)
60 U.S. 393
(1857)
62 U.S. 506
(1859)
guarantee clause of Article Four of the United
States Constitution
taxation of immigrants, constitutionality of state
laws regarding foreign commerce
Congressional control of the jurisdiction of the
lower federal courts
Early standard for non-obviousness in United
States patent law
slavery and the application of state laws thereof
pilotage laws under the Commerce Clause
slavery, the definition of citizenship
The contradiction of Federal law by States
1860–1869 (Group 7)
Case name
Citation
Summary
67 U.S. 635
Prize Cases
presidential powers in wartime
(1863)
Beginning of active duty of Chief Justice Salmon Portland Chase, December 15, 1864
71 U.S. 2
Ex parte Milligan
habeas corpus, military tribunals
(1866)
71 U.S. 333 retroactive civil disability for former
Ex parte Garland
(1866)
Confederate officers
71 U.S. 475 power of the Supreme Court to constitutionally
Mississippi v. Johnson
(1867)
issue an injunction directed at the President
upholding harsh penalty for violation of state
72 U.S. 475
Pervear v. Massachusetts
liquor laws, and declining to apply Eighth
(1866)
Amendment to the states
73 U.S. 35
Right to travel bars taxation of parties leaving a
Crandall v. Nevada
(1868)
state
power of the Court to rule on constitutionality
73 U.S. 50
Georgia v. Stanton
of Reconstruction Acts; parameters of the
(1867)
Court's jurisdiction
74 U.S. 482
United States v. Kirby
construction of criminal statutes
(1868)
74 U.S. 506 congressional power to limit Supreme Court’s
Ex parte McCardle
(1868)
appellate jurisdiction
Texas v. White
74 U.S. 700
(1869)
Ex parte Yerger
75 U.S. 85
(1869)
Paul v. Virginia
75 U.S. 168
(1869)
constitutionality of state secession
habeas corpus case that became moot when
Yerger was released before the court ruling;
therefore not actually heard by the Supreme
Court
Privileges & Immunities Clause does not apply
to corporations, Commerce Clause does not
apply to insurance policies
1870–1879 (Group 8)
Case name
Hepburn v. Griswold
Baker v. Morton
United States v. Klein
Taylor v. Taintor
Slaughterhouse Cases
Bradwell v. State of Illinois
Minor v. Happersett
Citation
75 U.S. 603
(1870)
79 U.S. 150
(1870)
80 U.S. 128
(1871)
83 U.S. 366
(1872)
83 U.S. 36
(1873)
83 U.S. 130
(1873)
88 U.S. 162
(1874)
Summary
constitutionality of legal tender laws
land claims in the Nebraska Territory
separation of powers
rights and responsibilities of bail bondsmen
freedom of employment
equal protection, exclusion of women from
employment
Fourteenth Amendment and the right to vote
(Group 9)
Beginning of active duty of Chief Justice Morrison Remick Waite, March 4, 1874
92 U.S. 105
Totten v. United States
jurisdiction over espionage agreements
(1875)
92 U.S. 542 application of the First and Second
United States v. Cruikshank
(1875)
Amendments to the states
94 U.S. 113
Munn v. Illinois
corporations and agricultural regulation
(1876)
95 U.S. 714
Pennoyer v. Neff
bases of personal jurisdiction over defendants
(1877)
City of Elizabeth v. American
97 U.S. 126 experimental use exception to the on-sale bar in
Nicholson Pavement Co.
(1878)
United States patent law
Reynolds v. United States
Wilkerson v. Utah
Trade-Mark Cases
Baker v. Selden
98 U.S. 145
(1878)
99 U.S. 130
(1878)
100 U.S. 82
(1879)
101 U.S. 99
(1879)
polygamy and freedom of religion
capital punishment
Copyright Clause does not give Congress the
power to regulate trademarks
differences between copyright & patent law
1880–1899 (Group 10)
Case name
Strauder v. West Virginia
Springer v. United States
Kilbourn v. Thompson
Egbert v. Lippmann
Pace v. Alabama
United States v. Harris (the Ku
Klux Case)
Citation
100 U.S. 303
(1880)
102 U.S. 586
(1881)
103 U.S. 168
(1880)
104 U.S. 333
(1881)
106 U.S. 583
(1883)
Summary
exclusion of blacks from juries
constitutionality of income tax set up by the
Revenue Act of 1864
limitations on Congressional investigations
early case concerning the on-sale bar in patent
law
affirmed that Alabama's anti-miscegenation
statute banning interracial marriage and
interracial sex was not a violation of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
No Congressional power to pass ordinary
criminal statutes
power of federal government to prohibit racial
discrimination by private parties
repeal of law dealing with Native American
Indians requires express language by Congress
no requirement that states use a grand jury to
indict a defendant in a murder prosecution
106 U.S. 629
(1883)
109 U.S. 3
Civil Rights Cases
(1883)
109 U.S. 556
Ex parte Crow Dog
(1883)
110 U.S. 516
Hurtado v. California
(1884)
Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. 111 U.S. 53
copyrightability of photographs
Sarony
(1884)
New England Mutual Life
111 U.S. 138
insurance law
Insurance Co. v. Woodworth
(1884)
112 U.S. 94
Elk v. Wilkins
citizenship of native Americans
(1884)
(Group 11)
112 U.S. 580
treaties
(1884)
the court held that the Missouri legislature
113 U.S. 1
Cole v. La Grange
could not authorize a city to issue bonds to
(1885)
assist corporations in their private business.
An appeal regarding monies owed and a lein
Central Railroad & Banking Co. 113 U.S. 116 upon the roadbed, depots, side tracks, turnouts,
of Ga. v. Pettus
(1885)
trestles, and bridges owned and used by the
appellants.
113 U.S. 293 title to mortgaged property confiscated by the
Avegno v. Schmidt
(1885)
U.S. government during the Civil War
113 U.S. 316
Baylis v. Travellers' Ins. Co.
right to trial by jury in a civil case
(1885)
California Artificial Stone Paving 113 U.S. 609 Patent infringement case on an improvement in
Co. v. Molitor
(1885)
concrete paving
Winona & St. Peter R. Co. v.
113 U.S. 618
Public land grant for Railroad construction
Barney
(1885)
Kansas Pacific R. Co. v.
113 U.S. 629
Land ownership dispute
Dunmeyer
(1885)
113 U.S. 645 case regarding description of articles subject to
Schmieder v. Barney
(1885)
duty
case to recover an alleged balance due as
compensation for collecting and delivering to
113 U.S. 648
Camp v. United States
the United States a large amount of cotton in
(1885)
bales which was captured and abandoned
property
writ of error brought by the executors of a
former collector of the port of New York to
113 U.S. 656
Maxwell's Executors v. Wilkinson
reverse a judgment in an action brought against
(1885)
him by the defendant in error to recover duties
paid by them on imported iron
case where the deeds for several parcels of land
were transferred from Flagg, who was in
113 U.S. 659 financial difficulty, to Walker in return for
Flagg v. Walker
(1885)
paying off Flagg's debts and profits from the
sale against a mortgage for other property
owned by Flagg.
116 U.S. 307
Railroad Commission Cases
contracts, police power, regulation of transport
(1886)
118 U.S. 356 equal protection, racially-neutral laws
Yick Wo v. Hopkins
(1886)
administered in a discriminatory manner
Head Money Cases
(Group 12)
118 U.S. 375 federal court jurisdiction over crimes
(1886)
committed on Indian reservations
United States v. Kagama
Santa Clara County v. Southern
Pacific Railroad
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific
Railway Company v. Illinois
Ker v. Illinois
Runkle v. United States
The Telephone Cases
118 U.S. 394
(1886)
118 U.S. 557
(1886)
119 U.S. 436
(1886)
corporate personhood
regulation of interstate commerce by individual
states, creation of ICC
legality of abduction of criminal suspect
abroad
the president cannot delegate the power vested
in him to pass finally upon the sentence when
122 U.S. 543
he is the only person to whom has been
(1887)
committed the judicial power of making a final
determination
126 U.S. 1
patent law
(1888)
(Group 13)
Beginning of active duty of Chief Justice Melville Weston Fuller, October 8, 1888
128 U.S. 1
Kidd v. Pearson
Scope of the Commerce Clause
(1888)
129 U.S. 114
Dent v. West Virginia
state licensing of doctors
(1889)
130 U.S. 238 validity of Spanish and Mexican land grants
Botiller v. Dominguez
(1889)
within the Mexican Cession
United States federal courts have jurisdiction to
133 U.S. 333
Davis v. Beason
hear charges related to polygamy even though
(1890)
it be part of a religious belief
134 U.S. 1
sovereign immunity of states, interpreting the
Hans v. Louisiana
(1890)
Eleventh Amendment
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul 134 U.S. 418
states and railway fees
Railroad v. Minnesota
(1890)
authority of the U.S. Attorney General to
135 U.S. 1
In re Neagle
appoint U.S. Marshals as bodyguards to
(1890)
Supreme Court Justices
136 U.S. 1
upheld revocation of LDS Church charter and
LDS Church v. United States
(1890)
confiscation of church property
140 U.S. 453 application of U.S. law to foreign sailors on
In re Ross
(1891)
U.S. flagged ships while in another country
(Group 14)
Holy Trinity Church v. United
States
Illinois Central Railroad v.
Illinois
143 U.S. 457
(1892)
146 U.S. 387
(1892)
149 U.S. 304
Nix v. Hedden
(1893)
155 U.S. 163
Schillinger v. United States
(1894)
156 U.S. 1
United States v. E. C. Knight Co.
(1895)
156 U.S. 51
Sparf v. United States
(1895)
156 U.S. 432
Coffin v. United States
(1895)
158 U.S. 564
In re Debs
(1895)
Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust 158 U.S. 601
Co.
(1895)
159 U.S. 113
Hilton v. Guyot
(1895)
Rosen v. United States
Geer v. Connecticut
Talton v. Mayes
Plessy v. Ferguson
United States v. Ball
Allgeyer v. Louisiana
contracts with foreign citizens, religion
railroad land dispute, public trust doctrine
status of the tomato as fruit or vegetable under
Tariff Act of 1883
sovereign immunity forbids suit against the
Federal government for patent infringement
antitrust action; “Sugar Trust Case”
jury instructions
the presumption of innocence
strikes and interstate commerce
income tax and tariffs
doctrine of comity
defendant's ability to inspect evidence at
obscenity trial overcame objection that
indictment was too vague
states owned the wild animals within their
161 U.S. 519
borders and can strictly regulate their
(1896)
management and harvest
163 U.S. 376 individual rights in U.S. Constitution not
(1896)
applicable to tribal governments
163 U.S. 537
segregation; "separate but equal"
(1896)
163 U.S. 662
double jeopardy
(1896)
165 U.S. 578
Freedom of contract
(1897)
166 U.S. 290
railroads and rate fixing
(1897)
161 U.S. 29
(1896)
United States v. Trans-Missouri
Freight Association
Interstate Commerce Commission
167 U.S. 479
v. Cincinnati, New Orleans and
powers of an administrative agency
(1897)
Texas Pacific Railway Co.
(Group 15)
Barrett v. United States
Holden v. Hardy
United States v. Wong Kim Ark
Hawker v. New York
Williams v. Mississippi
Brown v. New Jersey
Malony v. Adsit
Cumming v. Richmond County
Board of Education
169 U.S. 218 South Carolina had not been subdivided into
(1898)
separate federal judicial districts
169 U.S. 366
(1898)
169 U.S. 649
(1898)
170 U.S. 189
(1898)
170 U.S. 213
(1898)
175 U.S. 172
(1899)
175 U.S. 281
(1899)
175 U.S. 528
(1899)
working hours of miners
citizenship and race
character and doctor’s licenses
literacy tests
use of a struck jury
trial judge must authenticate bill of exceptions
segregation in public schools