Supreme Court Cases Flashcards
Federalism
Gibbons v. Ogden
1824 http://www.oyez.org/cases/1792-1850/1824/1824_0
- Did the State of New York exercise authority in a realm reserved exclusively to Congress, namely, the regulation of interstate commerce?
- Regulation of navigation by steamboat operators and others for purposes of conducting interstate commerce was a power reserved to and exercised by the Congress.
Federalism
McCulloch v. Maryland
1819
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1792-1850/1819/1819_0
- Did Congress have the authority to establish the bank?
- The Court held 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
Federalism
US v. Lopez
1955 http://www.oyez.org/cases/1990-1999/1994/1994_93_1260
- Is the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act, forbidding individuals from knowingly carrying a gun in a school zone, unconstitutional because it exceeds the power of Congress to legislate under the Commerce Clause?
- Yes. The law is a criminal statute that has nothing to do with commerce or any sort of economic activity.
Institutions of Goverment
Marbury v. Madison
1803 http://www.oyez.org/cases/1792-1850/1803/1803_0/
- Is Marbury entitled to his appointment, and is the Supreme Court the place for Marbury to get the relief he requests?
- Yes. The justices held, through Marshall’s forceful argument, that on the last issue the Constitution was “the fundamental and paramount law of the nation” and that “an act of the legislature repugnant to the constitution is void.
Institution of Goverment
United States v. Nixon
1974
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1974/1974_73_1766
- Is the President’s right to safeguard certain information, using his “executive privilege” confidentiality power, entirely immune from judicial review?
- No. The Court held that neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the generalized need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified, presidential privilege.
Institutions of Gov
Baker v. Carr
1962 http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1960/1960_6
1.Did the Supreme Court have jurisdiction over questions of legislative apportionment?
2.The Court held that there were no such questions to be answered in this case and that legislative apportionment was a justiciable issue.
I
Civil Rights
Dred Scott v. Sanford
1857
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1851-1900/1856/1856_0
- Was Dred Scott free or slave?
2. The Court then held the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, hoping to end the slavery question once and for all.
Civil Rights
Plessy v. Ferguson 1896
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1851-1900/1895/1895_210/
- Is Louisiana’s law mandating racial segregation on its trains an unconstitutional infringement on both the privileges and immunities and the equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment?
- The justices based their decision on the separate-but-equal doctrine, that separate facilities for blacks and whites satisfied the Fourteenth Amendment so long as they were equal
Civil Rights
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 1954
http://www.lawnix.com/cases/brown-board-education.html
- Is the race-based segregation of children into “separate but equal” public schools constitutional?
- The race-based segregation of children into “separate but equal” public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and is unconstitutional.
Civil Rights
(Heart of) Atlanta Motel v. United States 1964
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1964/1964_515
- Did Congress, in passing Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, exceed its Commerce Clause powers by depriving motels, such as the Heart of Atlanta, of the right to choose their own customers?
- The Court held that the Commerce Clause allowed Congress to regulate local incidents of commerce, and that the Civil Right Act of 1964 passed constitutional muster.
Civil Rights
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke 1978
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1977/1977_76_811
- Did the University of California violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
- Four of the justices contended that any racial quota system supported by government violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Civil Liberties
Schenck v. United States
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1901-1939/1918/1918_437/
- Are Schenck’s actions protected by the free speech clause of the First Amendment?
- Holmes, speaking for a unanimous Court, concluded that Schenck is not protected in this situation. The character of every act depends on the circumstances. During wartime, utterances tolerable in peacetime can be punished.
Civil Liberties
Gitlow v. New York 1925
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1901-1939/1922/1922_19/
- Is the New York law punishing advocacy to overthrow the government by force an unconstitutional violation of the free speech clause of the First Amendment?
- By virtue of the liberty protected by due process that no state shall deny.
Civil Liberties
Mapp v. Ohio 1962
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1960/1960_236
- Were the confiscated materials protected by the First Amendment?
- The Court brushed aside the First Amendment issue and declared that “all evidence obtained by searches and seizures in violation of the Constitution is, inadmissible in a state court.”
Civil Liberties
Engel v. Vitale
http://projects.oyez.org/shifting-scales
- Does the reading of a nondenominational prayer at the start of the school day violate the “establishment of religion” clause of the First Amendment?
- This was the first in a series of cases in which the Court used the establishment clause to eliminate religious activities of all sorts, which had traditionally been a part of public ceremonies.
