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Supreme Court Cases
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Creation of the Supreme Court
The Judiciary Act of 1789 congress explained the Supreme Court aswell as the federal judiciary. There will be 13 smaller courts in main cities with 3 higher courts to over see the 13 and finally the supreme court will oversee all. The supreme court will be headed by a chief justice. -
John Jay - Chief Justice
From New York, was the First Chief Justice, set to office by George Washington. 5 year term as chief justice and later became the govenor of New York. -
John Marshall - Chief Justice
Appointed to the Supreme Court by John Adams. Held the job for the longest (34 years). Fought in the Revolutionary War and helped establish the Supreme Court as the highest authority. -
Marbury v. Madison
This case established the doctrine of judicial review and the Supreme Court’s power as interpreter of the Constitution.
Out of this case the checks and balances idea was put into place. "It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is" -
Fletcher v. Peck
This case involving the Yazoo land fraud. The court ruled that an act of the Georgia legislature rescinding a land grant was unconstitutional because it took away rights previously granted by contract. The decision was the first to declare a state legislative act unconstitutional. -
Dartmouth College v. Woodward
New Hampshire legislature tried to change Dartmouth College (privately funded) into a state university. The legislature changed the school's corporate charter by changing the control of trustee appointments to the governor. In an attempt to control authority over the resources of Dartmouth College. -
McCulloch v. Maryland
Congress passed an act establishing the Second Bank of the United States..The state of Maryland passed a law in 1818 imposing a tax on all banks not chartered by their legislature. James McCulloch, head of the Baltimore branch of the Second Bank, refused to pay the tax. The Court held that Congress had the right to create the bank, and that Maryland’s laws interfered with the powers Congress has. -
Gibbons v. Ogden
The case established congress the right to regulate interstate trade and commerce by means of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Ogden bought rights to drive steamboats in the water between NY & NJ and had the right to do so. Gibbons did so with out the permission. Court decided NY did not follow the duty of congress on regulating coastal trade. -
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
The state was afraid the US would not enforce the removal of the Cherokee people from the state made a series of laws which took the Cherokees' rights under the laws of the state. They intended to force the Cherokee to leave the state. The case was thrown out because the Cherokee had not had the right to sue because they were an "domestic dependent nation". -
Worcester v. Georgia
This was a case in which the United States Supreme Court took away the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that didn't allow non-Indians from being present on Indian lands without a license from the state was unconstitutional. The court ruled that the Cherokee Nation was a "distinct community" with self-government "in which the laws of Georgia can have no force." It established the government of the United States had authority in American Indian affairs. -
Commonwealth v. Hunt
In 1839, the Boston Journeymen Bootmakers' Society called a strike against all employers who hired non-union members. Mr. Hunt and others were charged on conspiracy. At first they were founded guilty. but on the appeal the supreme court sided with the defendants because the unionization through strike was legal if there purposes were illegal. This is important because it legalized the existence of trade organizations, though trade unions. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
The Court simply ruled that an african american slave that was brought into the US was not free. This is what appiled to Scott.
