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McCullough v. Maryland
The Supreme Court ruled that Congress had the power to incorporate the bank and that Maryland could not tax instruments of the national government employed in the execution of constitutional powers. -
Gibbons v. Ogden
The Supreme Court ruled that Congress has the power to regulate commerce and that Federal law takes precedence over state laws. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
The Supreme Court ruled Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. The Court also ruled that Congress lacked the power to ban slavery in the U.S. territories. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
The Supreme Court ruled that racially separate facilities, if equal, did not violate the Constitution. Segregation, the Court said, was not discrimination. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
The Supreme Court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial isolation in public schools are illegal, regardless of whether the isolated schools are in any case equivalent in quality. -
Mapp v. Ohio
The Supreme Court ruled that any evidence that is obtained illegally may not be used someone in court. -
Engel v. Vitale
The Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to compose an official school prayer in public schools. -
Gideon v. Wainwright
The Supreme Court ruled that states are required to provide an attorney to the defendant if they are unable to afford one. -
Miranda v. Arizona
The Supreme Court ruled that criminal suspects, preceding police addressing, must be informed of their protected right to an attorney and against self-incrimination. -
Lawrence v. Texas
The Supreme Court ruled that criminalizing intimate sexual conduct between two consenting adults of the same sex was unconstitutional.
