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Marbury v. Madison
- Do the plaintiffs have a right to receive their commissions?
- Can they sue for their commissions in court?
- Does the Supreme Court have the authority to order the delivery of their commissions? Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of judicial review, an important addition to the system of “checks and balances” created to prevent any one branch of the Federal Government from becoming too powerful. “A Law repugnant to the Constitution is void.”
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Gibbons v. Ogden
Does the Commerce Clause give Congress authority over interstate navigation? The Supreme Court ruled that the New York State law granting exclusive navigation rights was unconstitutional because the federal government has the exclusive right to regulate interstate commerce according to the Supremacy Clause and the Commerce Clause. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Was Dred Scott free or a slave? The U.S. Supreme Court stated that enslaved people were not citizens of the United States and, therefore, could not expect any protection from the federal government or the courts. The opinion also stated that Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a Federal territory. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Does the Separate Car Act violate the Fourteenth Amendment? The ruling in this Supreme Court case upheld a Louisiana state law that allowed for "equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races." -
Korematsu v. United States
Did the President and Congress go beyond their war powers by implementing exclusion and restricting the rights of Americans of Japanese descent? The Supreme Court ruled that the evacuation order violated by Korematsu was valid, and it was not necessary to address the constitutional racial discrimination issues in this case. -
Miranda v. Arizona
Does the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination extend to the police interrogation of a suspect?In the Supreme Court decision, Miranda v. Arizona ruled that an arrested individual is entitled to rights against self-incrimination and to an attorney under the 5th and 6th Amendments of the United States Constitution. -
United States v. Nixon
Is the President's right to safeguard certain information, using his "executive privilege" confidentiality power, entirely immune from judicial review? The Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ordered President Richard Nixon to deliver tape recordings and other subpoenaed materials related to the Watergate scandal to a federal district court. -
Roe v. Wade
Does the Constitution recognize a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy by abortion? The Supreme Court decided that the right to privacy implied in the 14th Amendment protected abortion as a fundamental right. -
Texas v. Johnson
Is the desecration of an American flag, by burning or otherwise, a form of speech that is protected under the First Amendment? The majority of the Court, according to Justice William Brennan, agreed with Johnson and held that flag burning constitutes a form of "symbolic speech" that is protected by the First Amendment. -
Obergefell v. Hodges
(1) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex?
(2) Does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex that was legally licensed and performed in another state? The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all same-sex couples are guaranteed the right to marry, which extended legal marriage recognition to same-sex couples throughout the United States.