Important U.s. Legal Cases

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Plessy v. Ferguson

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Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in the jurisprudence of the United States, upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation even in public accommodations (particularly railroads), under the doctrine of "separate but equal".

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Lochner v. New York

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Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45 (1905), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that held the "right to free contract" was implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case involved a New York law that limited the number of hours a baker could work each week. By a 5-4 margin, the Supreme Court rejected the argument that the law was necessary to protect the health of bakers, calling it an "unreasonable, unnecessary and arbitrary interference with the right and liberty of the individual to contract."

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Adair v. United States

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Adair v. United States, 208 U.S. 161 (1908), was a United States Supreme Court decision that upheld "yellow-dog" contracts that forbade workers from joining trade unions.

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Adkins v. Children's Hospital

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Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261 U.S. 525 (1923), is a Supreme Court opinion holding that federal minimum wage legislation for women was an unconstitutional infringement of liberty of contract, as protected by the Fifth Amendment.

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West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish, Wickard v. Filburn

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West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish, 300 U.S. 379 (1937), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States upholding the constitutionality of minimum wage legislation enacted by the State of Washington, overturning an earlier decision in Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261 U.S. 525 (1923).

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Brown v. Board of Education

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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court, which overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, by declaring that state laws that established separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9-0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

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Marbury v. Madison

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Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137 (1803) is a landmark case in United States law. It formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution.

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Martin v. Hunter's Lessee

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Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, 14 U.S. 304 (1816), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case decided on March 20, 1816. It was the first case to assert ultimate Supreme Court authority over state courts in matters of federal law.

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Sheldon v. Sill

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Sheldon v. Sill, 49 U.S. 441 (1850), was a ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States, in which the court held that, while Congress may not limit the subjects the Supreme Court may hear, the Constitution does not so restrain it where lower courts are concerned.

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Dred Scott v. Sandford

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Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that ruled that people of African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants—whether or not they were slaves—could never be citizens of the United States, and that the United States Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories. The Court also ruled that slaves could not sue in court, and that slaves—as chattel or private property—could not be taken away from their owners without due process.

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Seminole Tribe v. Florida

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Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44 (1996)[1], was a United States Supreme Court case which held that Article One of the U.S. Constitution did not give the United States Congress the power to abrogate the sovereign immunity of the states that is further protected under the Eleventh Amendment. Such abrogation is permitted only where it is necessary to enforce the rights of citizens guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment.

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Griswold v. Connecticut

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Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965),[1] was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution protected a right to privacy. The case involved a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptives. By a vote of 7-2, the Supreme Court invalidated the law on the grounds that it violated the "right to marital privacy".

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Engel v. Vitale

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Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that determined that it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and require its recitation in public schools.

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Alden v. Maine

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Alden v. Maine, 527 U.S. 706 (1999)[1], was a United States Supreme Court case which held that Article One of the U.S. Constitution did not give the United States Congress the power to abrogate the sovereign immunity of the states and thereby allow state citizens to sue their states in the respective state courts. Sovereign immunity is a pre-Constitutional right that is retained by the states. The Constitution's Eleventh Amendment also addresses sovereign immunity, and states that citizens of one state cannot sue another, different state.

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Abington School District v. Schempp

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Abington Township School District v. Schempp (consolidated with Murray v. Curlett), 374 U.S. 203 (1963), was a United States Supreme Court case argued on February 27–28, 1963 and decided on June 17, 1963. In the case, the Court decided 8-1 in favor of the respondent, Edward Schempp, and declared school sponsored Bible reading in public schools in the United States to be unconstitutional. The case was part of a string of Supreme Court cases ruling on the place of religion in public schools, and was both condemned by some religious conservatives and celebrated by those who supported constitutional separation of church and state.

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Bush v. Gore

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Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a United States Supreme Court case decided on December 12, 2000. The case effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush.

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Mapp v. Ohio

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Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961)[1], was a landmark case in criminal procedure, in which the United States Supreme Court decided that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures", may not be used in criminal prosecutions in state courts, as well as federal courts.

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Lawrence v. Texas

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Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003),[1] was a landmark United States Supreme Court case. In the 6-3 ruling, the justices struck down the sodomy law in Texas. The court had previously addressed the same issue in 1986 in Bowers v. Hardwick, where it upheld a challenged Georgia statute, not finding a constitutional protection of sexual privacy.

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Miranda v. Arizona

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Miranda v. Arizona (consolidated with Westover v. United States, Vignera v. New York, and California v. Stewart), 384 U.S. 436 (1966), was a landmark 5-4 decision of the United States Supreme Court which was argued February 28–March 1, 1966 and decided June 13, 1966. The Court held that both inculpatory and exculpatory statements made in response to interrogation by a defendant in police custody will be admissible at trial only if the prosecution can show that the defendant was informed of the right to consult with an attorney before and during questioning and of the right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police, and that the defendant not only understood these rights, but voluntarily waived them.

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Bolling v. Sharpe

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Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497 (1954) was an influential United States Supreme Court landmark case dealing with civil rights concerning segregation in public schools. It is considered a 'companion' case to Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) because while Brown addressed school desegregation in the context of the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment only applies to the states so it was insufficient to answer the question of the validity of school segregation in the federal District of Columbia.

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Lechmere Inc. v. NLRB

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Lechmere, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, 502 U.S. 527 (1992), is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States case on union rights and private property rights. It forbids nonemployee union organizers from soliciting support on private property, except in the case where no reasonable alternatives exist.

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Gideon v. Wainwright

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Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), is a landmark case in United States Supreme Court history. In the case, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that state courts are required under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants unable to afford their own attorneys or lawyers.

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Planned Parenthood v. Casey

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Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833 (1992) was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the constitutionality of several Pennsylvania state regulations regarding abortion was challenged. The Court's lead plurality opinion upheld the constitutional right to have an abortion but lowered the standard for analyzing restrictions of that right, invalidating one regulation but upholding the others.

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Roe v. Wade

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Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), is a United States Supreme Court case that resulted in a landmark decision regarding abortion.[1] According to the Roe decision, most laws against abortion in the United States violated a constitutional right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

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Regents of the University of California v. Bakke

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Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978) was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on affirmative action. It bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms the constitutionality of affirmative action programs giving equal access to minorities.

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Egelhoff v. Egelhoff

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Egelhoff v. Egelhoff, 532 U.S. 141 (2001), is a major decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on federalism, specifically with regards to the preemption powers of federal law over state laws. It sets the precedent that any state statutes having a "connection with" ERISA plans is superseded by ERISA, or any future substantially similar law that takes its place. In essence, this decision is a reaffirmation of the right and ability of the federal government to, at least in some instances, pre-empt state laws.

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Buckley v. Valeo

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Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a federal law which set limits on campaign contributions, but ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and struck down portions of the law. The court also stated candidates can give unlimited amounts of money to their own campaigns.

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Hudson v. Michigan

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Hudson v. Michigan, 547 U. S. 586 (2006), is a decision of the United States Supreme Court holding that a violation of the Fourth Amendment requirement that police officers knock, announce their presence, and wait a reasonable amount of time before entering a private residence (the knock-and-announce requirement) does not require suppression of the evidence obtained in the ensuing search.

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Aetna Health Inc. v. Davila & CIGNA Healthcare of Texas Inc. v. Calad

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Aetna Health Inc. v. Davila, 542 U.S. 200 (2004) United States Supreme Court case that limited the scope of the Texas Healthcare Liability Act.

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Furman v. Georgia

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Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972) was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The Court consolidated Jackson v. Georgia and Branch v. Texas with the Furman decision, and thus also invalidated the death penalty for rape.

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Gregg v. Georgia

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Gregg v. Georgia, Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 153 (1976), reaffirmed the Supreme Court's acceptance of the use of the death penalty in the United States, upholding, in particular, the death sentence imposed on Troy Leon Gregg.

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Eldred v. Ashcroft

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Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S. 186 (2003) was a court case in the United States challenging the constitutionality of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA). Oral argument was heard on October 9, 2002, and on January 15, 2003, the court held the CTEA constitutional by a 7-2 decision. The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (or CTEA) extended existing copyright terms by an additional 20 years from the terms set by the Copyright Act of 1976. The law affected both new and existing works (making it both a prospective extension as well as a retroactive one).

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United States v. Lopez

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United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995) was the first United States Supreme Court case since the Great Depression to set limits to Congress's power under the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court held that while Congress had broad lawmaking authority under the Commerce Clause, it was not unlimited, and did not apply to something as far from commerce as carrying handguns, especially when there was no evidence that carrying them affected the economy on a massive scale.

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Garcetti v. Ceballos

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Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the First Amendment free speech protections for government employees. The plaintiff in the case was a district attorney who claimed that he had been passed up for a promotion for criticizing the legitimacy of a warrant. The Court ruled that because his statements were made pursuant to his position as a public employee, rather than as a private citizen, his speech had no First Amendment protection.

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Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood

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Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, 546 U.S. 320 (2006), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving a facial challenge to New Hampshire's parental notification abortion law. The First Circuit had ruled that the law was unconstitutional and an injunction against its enforcement was proper. The Supreme Court vacated this judgment and remanded the case, but avoided a substantive ruling on the challenged law or a reconsideration of prior Supreme Court abortion precedent. Instead, the Court only addressed the issue of remedy, holding that invalidating a statute in its entirety "is not always necessary or justified, for lower courts may be able to render narrower declaratory and injunctive relief."

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United States v. Morrison

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United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598 (2000) is a United States Supreme Court decision which held that parts of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 were unconstitutional because they exceeded congressional power under the Commerce Clause and under section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

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Gonzales v. Carhart

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Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007), is a United States Supreme Court case which upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003.[1] The case reached the high court after U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appealed a ruling of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in favor of LeRoy Carhart that struck down the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Also before the Supreme Court was the consolidated appeal of Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood from the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which had struck down the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

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City of Boerne v. Flores

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City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997), was a Supreme Court case concerning the scope of Congress's enforcement power under the fifth section of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case also had a significant impact on historic preservation. The Supreme Court's decision in City of Boerne made a significant impact on the states' authority to enact and enforce laws, including those pertaining to historic preservation. Under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, an otherwise neutral state law—such as zoning, or historic preservation ordinances—needed to be scrutinized if its enforcement involved a religious group or individual. Therefore, by declaring RFRA unconstitutional, the ability of the states to establish and maintain historic preservation ordinances was made easier.

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Morse v. Frederick

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Morse v. Frederick, 127 S. Ct. 2618 (2007), was a First Amendment student free speech case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that a school principal may, consistent with the First Amendment, restrict student speech at a school-supervised event when that speech is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use.

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Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc

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Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., 551 U.S. ___ (2007), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court reversed the 96-year-old doctrine that vertical price restraints were illegal per se under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, replacing the older doctrine with the rule of reason.

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Baze v. Rees

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Baze v. Rees, 553 U.S. ___ (2008), is a United States Supreme Court case. The court agreed to hear the appeal of two men, Ralph Baze and Thomas Bowling, who were sentenced to death in Kentucky. The Court heard oral arguments on January 7, 2008. On April 16, the Court rejected the challenge thereby upholding Kentucky's method of lethal injection by a vote of 7-2. Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented.

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Hamdan v. Rumsfeld

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Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay lack "the power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949." Specifically, the ruling says that Common Article 3 of the Third Geneva Convention was violated. On June 29, 2006, the Court issued a 5-3 decision holding that it had jurisdiction, that the administration did not have authority to set up these particular military commissions without congressional authorization, because they did not comply with the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Convention (which the court found to be incorporated into the Uniform Code of Military Justice).

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Kennedy v. Louisiana

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Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. ___ (2008) was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause did not permit a state to punish the crime of rape of a child with the death penalty; more broadly, the power of the state to impose the death penalty against an individual for committing a crime that did not result in the death of the victim is now limited to crimes against the state (such as espionage).

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Boumediene v. Bush

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Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. ___ (2008), was a writ of habeas corpus submission made in a civilian court of the United States on behalf of Lakhdar Boumediene, a naturalized citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, held in military detention by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camps. On June 12, 2008, Justice Kennedy wrote the opinion for the 5-4 majority holding that the prisoners had a right to the habeas corpus under the United States Constitution and that the MCA was an unconstitutional suspension of that right.

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Parents v. Seattle

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Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 127 S.Ct. 2738 (2007), decided together with Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that prohibited assigning students to public schools solely for the purpose of achieving racial integration and declined to recognize racial balancing as a compelling state interest.

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Crawford v. Marion County Election Board

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Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, 553 U.S. ___ (2008) is a decision, in a 6-3 vote, by the Supreme Court of the United States holding that an Indiana law requiring voters to provide picture identification did not violate the Constitution of the United States.

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District of Columbia v. Heller

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District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. ___ (2008) is a landmark legal case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects an individual's right to possess a firearm for private use. It was the first Supreme Court case in United States history to directly address whether the right to keep and bear arms is a right of individuals or a collective right that applies only to state-regulated militias.