Landmark Supreme Court Decisions

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Marbury v. Madison

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1803; the first time the Supreme Court ruled an act of Congress unconstitutional; established judicial review; William Marbury had been appointed to a cabinet position by John Adams in the last days of his presidency but Marbury did not receive the commission papers, and therefor the cabinet position, before Jefferson took office. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to issue a writ requiring then Secretary of State James Madison to deliver the papers and thus the position; in a shrewd move to avoid political upheaval and to establish the Supreme Court's staying power, Chief Justice John Marshall stated that the commission was indeed owed to Marbury, but that the Judiciary Act of 1795, upon which Marbury was basing his argument of the Court's authority to force the delivering of the Commission, was unconstitutional in that it enlarged the scope of the Court's power beyond the Constitution's intent.

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Fletcher v. Peck

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1810; the first time the Supreme Court ruled a state law unconstitutional; Peck purchased land under a 1795 Georgia Act which was later repealed - the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that repealing the act and discounting Peck's purchase (which was considered a binding contract under the Constitution's contract clause) was unconstitutional

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The Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward

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1819; when the trustees of Dartmouth College deposed the college's president, the New Hampshire government tried to make the university public. The Supreme Court upheld the sanctity of the school's original charter, which predated the creation of the state, under the contract clause of the Constitution.

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McCullouch v. Maryland

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1819; Maryland imposed a tax on a United States federal bank operating within the state; the Supreme Court upheld the creation of the bank and denied the states the power to tax it; emphasized the power of Congress to create new laws and institutions (implied powers)

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Gibbons v. Ogden

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1824; the state of New York restricted its rivers for use of New York steamboats, exclusively; Congress ruled this unconstitutional, as it interfered with Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce which is granted by the commerce clause in the Constitution

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Contract Clause of the Constitution

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Article I, section 10, clause 1: No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

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Commerce Clause of the Constitution

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Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3: The Congress shall have power . . . To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes

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Cherokee Nation v. Georgia

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1831; Georgia stripped the Cherokee nation of its rights in an effort to expel the Cherokee people; a Cherokee delegation went to Washington to lobby with Congress, but President Andrew Jackson supported Georgia's move; the Cherokee nation asked the Supreme Court for an injunction, but the court ruled that the Supreme Court did not have original jurisdiction under Article III of the Constitution to hear a suit brought by the Cherokee Nation, which, as an Indian tribe, was not a sovereign nation.

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Kelo v. the City of New London

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2005; the city of New London condemned private property so that it could be used for redevelopment, that is, the city seized the properties of lower-middle class families under the protections of eminent domain intending to sell it off to a developer to build a shopping center; the Court ruled that the city's actions were permissible under the takings clause of the fifth amendment in that the property would be used for the overall public good (meaning tax revenue from the development and center would benefit the community more in the long run)

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United States v. Causby

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1946; Causby sued the federal government for trespassing after military fly-bys over his property scared his chickens who consequently ran into a wall and died; the Court ruled that overflights by military planes were held to render the farm worthless andhence constitute a taking of property warranting compensation by the U.S. government.

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Worcester v. Georgia

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1832; Samuel A. Worcester argued that the state of Georgia had no right to prosecute Worcester for illegally living on Cherokee land because the state of Georgia had no right of sovereignty over Cherokee land. The Court ruled the state of Georgia had no authority to mandate laws within the territory confined by the Cherokee Nation.

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United States v. Nixon

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1974; During the Watergate investigation, prosecutors ordered President Richard Nixon to turn over tape recordings from his private conversations in the Oval Office; the Court ordered the president to comply, thereby limiting the scope of executive privilege.

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Executive Privilege

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The power claimed by the President of the United States and other members of the executive branch to resist certain subpoenas and other interventions by the legislative and judicial branches of government; the concept of executive privilege is not mentioned explicitly in the United States Constitution, but the Supreme Court of the United States ruled it to be an element of the separation of powers doctrine, and/or derived from the supremacy of executive branch in its own area of Constitutional activity.

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Dred Scott v. Sandford

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1856; Dred Scott was a slave living in a free state when his owner died. The owner's son demanded Scott be returned to him, but Scott argued that he was living in a free state protected by the Missouri Compromise; the Court ruled that, as a slave, Scott had no rights as a citizen and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.

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Ex parte Merryman

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1861; 1. That the president [...] cannot suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, nor authorize a military officer to do it. 2. That a military officer has no right to arrest and detain a person not subject to the rules and articles of war [...] except in aid of the judicial authority, and subject to its control.

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Ex parte Milligan

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1866; the trial of Milligan on charges of treason and conspiracy, was found to be illegal because it was conducted by a military court.

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Gideon v. Wainwright

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1963; the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment makes the Sixth Amendment right to counsel binding on the states, the Supreme Court unanimously voted to order that Gideon be assigned a court-appointed lawyer and retried.

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Clinton v. Jones

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1997; the president does not enjoy immunity from a civil lawsuit for conduct not related to his official acts.

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Schenck v. United States

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1919; Schenck's speech (which was advising people to avoid the draft) was not protected by the First Amendment and his conviction under the Espionage Act was upheld; the first time the Supreme Court ruled directly on the extent to which the U.S. government may limit speech.

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Korematsu v. United States

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1944; the petitioner argued that the Japanese internment during World War II was not justified. The orders were upheld as a valid exercise of the war powers the Constitution grants to Congress; the only case in Supreme Court history in which the Court, using a strict test for possible racial discrimination, upheld a restriction on civil liberties.