Supreme Court Decisions

Question 1

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Answer 1

Established the principle of judicial review

Question 2

Worcester v. Georgia (1832)

Answer 2

Recognized the Cherokee tribe as a political entity; Georgia couldn’t regulate them nor invade their land

Question 3

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Answer 3

Ruled the African Americans were not citizens of the US; declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional

Question 4

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Answer 4

A state could not tax a national bank

Question 5

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

Answer 5

Federal government (not the state governments) had the power to regulate trade between the states

Question 6

U.S v. Reese (1876)

Answer 6

Declared that the 15th Amendment did not automatically protect the right of African Americans to vote(only listed the ways that states were not allowed to prevent them from voting)

Question 7

Munn v. Illinois (1877)

Answer 7

Said that states and federal government could regulate railroads because they were businesses that served the public interest.

Question 8

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Answer 8

Established the principle of “seperate but equal” said segregated facilities per se did not violate the 14th amendment

Question 9

Muller v. Oregon (1908)

Answer 9

A state could legally limit working hours for women (Oregon law had established a ten-hour workday)

Question 10

Bunting v. Oregon (1917)

Answer 10

A ten-hour work day was upheld for men

Question 11

Morgan v. Virginia (1946)

Answer 11

Segregation on interstate busses was unconstitutional

Question 12

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

Answer 12

Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson ruled that segregated schools are inherently unqueal, mandated desegregation.

Question 13

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Answer 13

Evidence obtained illegally could not be used in court

Question 14

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Answer 14

Electoral district lines that are arbitrarily drawn violate voter’s constitutional rights and may be challenged

Question 15

Gideon v. Wainwrite (1963)

Answer 15

Poor people are entitled to free legal counsel

Question 16

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Answer 16

Police required to inform all criminal suspects of their constiutional rights - “miranda rights”.

Question 17

Swann v. Charlotte Board of Education (1971)

Answer 17

Busing may be used to achieve racial balance in schools where segregation had been an official policy and no alternative plan was provided.

Question 18

Roe v. Wade (1953)

Answer 18

Gave women the right to seek abortion

Question 19

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)

Answer 19

Allan Bakke, a white student, had to be admitted to the UC Medical Schoool, a victim of “reverse discrimination”

Question 20

Webster v. Reproductive Health Care Services (1989)

Answer 20

States allowed to impose restrictions on abortion

Question 21

Abrams v. US (1919)

Answer 21

Espionage act is valid, a crime to publish disloyal language about US politics

Question 22

Buck v. Bell (1927)

Answer 22

Okay to sterilize feeble-minded

Question 23

Near v. Minnesota (1931)

Answer 23

Can’t sensor the press, even if they’re obsecene

Question 24

Engel v. Vitale (1962)

Answer 24

School prayer is unconstitutional; separation of church and state

Question 25

Loving v. Virginia (1967)

Answer 25

Unconstitutional to make inter-racial marriage illegal

Question 26

US v. Nixon (1974)

Answer 26

Executive privilege doesn’t make Nixon above the law

Question 27

Texas v. Johnson (1989)

Answer 27

Burning flag = freedom of expression

Question 28

Lawrence v. Texas (2003)

Answer 28

Consensual gay sex is okay

Question 29

Massachusetts v. EPA

Answer 29

EPA has to regulate auto carbon emissions

Question 30

DC v. Heller (2008)

Answer 30

Citizens can possess firearms for self-defense

Question 31

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

Answer 31

Individuals can spend as much $ to promote a candidate as long as they don’t benefit directly

Question 32

National Fed of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012)

Answer 32

Defended Affordable Care Act as a “tax”

Question 33

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)

Answer 33

Right to same-sex marriage

Question 34

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health

Answer 34

Overturned Roe v. Wade

Question 35

Bush v. Gore (2000)

Answer 35

Settled recount dispute