Supreme Court Decisions

Question 1

Established the principle of judicial review

Answer 1

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Question 2

Overturned Georgia law that violated an individual’s right to enter into a contract

Answer 2

Fletcher v. Peck (1810)

Question 3

State of New Hampshire couldn’t revoke the college’s colonial charter because it was a contract

Answer 3

Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)

Question 4

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

Answer 4

Worcester v. Georgia (1832)

Question 5

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

Answer 5

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Question 6

A state could not tax a national bank

Answer 6

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

Question 7

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

Answer 7

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

Question 8

The national government could not punish someone for violating the civil rights of individuals- only the states had the power

Answer 8

U.S v. Cruikshank (1876)

Question 9

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)

Answer 9

U.S v. Reese (1876)

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Munn v. Illinois (1877)

Question 11

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

Answer 11

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Question 12

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

Answer 12

Muller v. Oregon (1908)

Question 13

A ten-hour work day was upheld for men.

Answer 13

Bunting v. Oregon (1917)

Question 14

Segregation on interstate busses was unconstitutional

Answer 14

Morgan v. Virginia (1946)

Question 15

State laws schools had to admit black students, even if seperate law schools for blacks existed

Answer 15

Sweatt v. Painter (1950)

Question 16

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

Answer 16

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

Question 17

Evidence obtained illegally could not be used in court

Answer 17

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Question 18

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

Answer 18

Baker v. Carr (1962)

Question 19

Poor people are entitled to free legal counsel

Answer 19

Gideon v. Wainwrite (1963)

Question 20

People have a right to have an attorney present during questioning

Answer 20

Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)

Question 21

“One person, one vote” principle madated redistricting in all 50 states based on population, shifted balance of power from rural to urban districts

Answer 21

Reynolds v. Simms (1964)

Question 22

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

Answer 22

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)

Question 23

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

Answer 23

Swann v. Charlotte Board of Education (1971)

Question 24

Gave women the right to seek abortion

Answer 24

Roe v. Wade (1953)

Question 25

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

Answer 25

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

Question 26

City of Richmond’s mandating 30 percent of public works funds for minority contractors declared illegal

Answer 26

Richmond v. J.A. Croson Company (1989)

Question 27

States allowed to impose restrictions on abortion

Answer 27

Webster v. Reproductive Health Care Services (1989)

Question 28

Doctors working in government sponsored clinics were prevented from providing women with information about abortion, even if the life of the mother was in danger.

Answer 28

Rust v. Sullivan (1991)