Court Cases Flashcards
Marbury v. Madison
petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury, who had been appointed Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia by President John Adams but whose commission was not subsequently delivered. Marbury petitioned the Supreme Court to force the new Secretary of State, James Madison, to deliver the documents. The Court, with John Marshall as Chief Justice, found firstly that Madison’s refusal to deliver the commission was illegal. the Court stopped short of ordering Madison (by writ of mandamus) to hand over Marbury’s commission, instead holding that the provision of the Judiciary Act of 1789 that enabled Marbury to bring his claim to the Supreme Court was itself unconstitutional, since it purported to extend the Court’s original jurisdiction beyond that which Article III established.
The Marbury v. Madison decision expanded the power of the Supreme Court in general, by announcing that the 1789 law which gave the Court jurisdiction in this case was unconstitutional. Marbury thus lost his case, which the Court said he should have won, but, in explaining its inability to provide Marbury the remedy it said he deserved, the Court established the principle of judicial review, i.e., the power to declare a law unconstitutional.
McClloch v. Maryland Facts
- Maryland banks out of money after war of 1812
- maryland wanted to tax the fed bank 15 k licensing fee
- maryland argues bank is not government because it is run by private stockholders
Scott V. Sanford
It held that “a negro, whose ancestors were imported into [the U.S.], and sold as slaves”, whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States.
Plessy v. Fegusson
upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilities were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as “separate but equal”.[1] The decision was handed down by a vote of 7 to 1,
Brown V. Board of Education
declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision effectively overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court’s unanimous (9–0) decision stated that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
Mculloch v Maryland Arguments
McCulloch: bank is necesarry and proper, borrowing money is a power of congress, constitution is supreme law of land
Maryland: states have rights, bank is not necesarry, 10th ammendment
McCulloch V Maryland Decision
- Second federal bank is Constitional because of First, the Constitution grants to Congress implied powers for implementing the Constitution’s express powers, in order to create a functional national government. Second, state action may not impede valid constitutional exercises of power by the Federal government.
- tax is not consti because it indirectly taxes other states, fed is superior to states
Mcculloch v Maryland Importance
- Clarified who holds the power
- Affirms the idea of IMPLIED POWERS
- states have inferior status
- supported loose construction
