US Supreme Court Cases Flashcards
Marbury v Madison (1803)
Courts power of judicial review found in this case when it declared an act of congress unconstitutional.
Fletcher v peck (1810)
SCOTUS first declared a state law unconstitutional.
Dobbs 2022
Reversed the Roe v Wade and limiting women’s rights to abortion in some southern states
Brown v Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
Outlawed racial segregation in state run schools
Roe v wade (1973)
Women’s rights to abortion declared a constitutionally protected tight.
Obergefell v Hodges (2015)
Politicisation/ Activism v Restraint
Allowed same sex marriage
Activism - Created new policy
Politicisation - 5-4 ideological (loose with Kennedy as swing)
Obergefell v Hodges (2015)
Limits to other branches/states
Allowed same sex marriage
Overrides states law on action, limiting federalism
Obergefell v Hodges (2015)
Uphold/ remove/ establish
Allowed same sex marriage
New policy created, marriage equality through loose interpretation of 14th
Bush v Gore (2000)
Awarded the presidency to Bush
Citizens United v FEC (2010)
Overturned BCRA 2002 by classing interest groups and corporations as equal to people with first amendment rights
DC v Heller (2008)
Allowed individuals to carry firearms for reasons unconnected with militia like self - defence
New York State rifle & pistol association v bruen (2022)
Allowed for carry of concealed and loaded handguns in public
Dobbs v Jackson (2022)
Repealed Roe v Wade and have the right to introduce state bans / limits on abortions
Whole Woman’s health v Hellerstedt (2016)
Continued the defence of Roe v Wade
Bucklew v Precythe (2019)
Followed precedents on prisoners’ responsibility not the state to demonstrate that execution contravenes the 8th amendment (against cruel and unusual punishment). Gor such wrote the majority opinion that the majority opinion that the 8th does not guard against a painless death, just a cruel and unusual one
National federation of independent business NFIB v Sebelius (2012)
Upheld congressional law. Ruled ACA was constitutional as congress has the right to raise taxes which does not contravene states power.
Trump v Hawaii (2018)
Upheld executive order. Trumps Muslim travel ban due to terrorism concerns
US v Texas (2016)
Limiting power of president: Obama passed DAPA to allow certain illegal immigrants to be granted deferred action status , indefinite delay on deportation but not full citizenship allowing parents of lawful residents to remain in the country
Citizens United v FED
Citizens United 5-4 found that corporations and interest groups have 1st amendment rights and created a new policy of Super PACS who were allowed to raise unlimited amounts for campaigning
Carpenter v US (2018)
Charged with aiding and abetting robbery after police obtained his phone location record. He appealed on the ground that his 4th Amendment right to privacy has been violated
Trumps tax return
The house ways and means committee argued that it needs the information on trumps taxes to meaningfully evaluate the IRS’s presidential audit program
Planned parenthood Arkansas v Jegley (2018)
Arkansas law wanted to provide strict limits to when abortion could be given and was appealed against by planned parenthood the SC refused to hear the case from planned parenthood and in doing so , shaped policy by allowing the Arkansas law to stand limiting access to medicated abortions in the state
Biden v Nebraska (2023)
Biden planned to use the Heroes act to cancel student debt, the sc ruled that the act didn’t give Biden Sec of education such powers to cancel the $430 billion student loans
Us v Texas (2023)
Homeland security issued guidelines in 2021 to allocate funds to remove dangerous noncitizens present in the US. Texas and Louisiana challenged the decision as they would have depend more money on law enforcement and social services
Burrell v hobby lobby stores (2014)
Part of the ACA required family owed businesses to pay for health insurance coverage for contraception which hobby lobby objected to on religious grounds and claimed it violated their first amendment right protected further under the religious freedom restoration act 1993
Snyder v phelps (2011)
Snyders father sued the WBC for deformation after they picketed his sons funeral and published statements that his son raised his child for the devil as he was being raised a catholic
Carson v makin (2022)
The case centred on the limits of school vouchers offered by the state of Maine, which had disallowed the vouchers to be used to pay for religious- based private schools
Kennedy v Bremerton
The case involved Joseph Kennedy a high school football coach in the public school system of Washington
Creative LLC v Elenis (2023)
Smith, a graphic design business owner wanted to expand into wedding websites but opposed same-sex marriage on religious grounds and so didn’t wa t to offer this service to those couples. She wanted to post a message explaining her religious expressions
McDonald v Chicago (2010)
Following DC v Heller, the court ruled that the right to bear arms is protected fundamentally by the second amendment and the due process cause of the fourteenth this right cannot be infringed by state or local government
New York State rifle and pistol association v Bruen (2022)
2nd amendment right to carry concealed and loaded handguns in public (removing existing legislation after Biden passed bipartisan gun control)
Miranda v Arizona
Miranda confessed to rape unaware that he had a constitutional right to remain silent
Salinas v Texas
Salinas was questioned in a non-custodial situation by police concerned in a double murder. During the questioning was asking if his own shotgun would match the shell castings recovered at the scene of the crime, salinas fell silent. The prosecutor used the silence as an admission of guilt
Bucklew v Precythe (2019)
Bucklew was convicted of murder and argued that a rare physical condition would lead to a longer and more torturous death than usual by lethal injection.
Allen v Milligan
Alabamas redistributing plan for its house seats lefts the state with one majority black district. They’re accused of gerrymandering to split the black vote, violating section 2 of the voting rights act
Regents of the university of California v Bakke (1978)
Racial quotas ruled unconstitutional but allowed the continuation of race to be considered in the admissions process
Gratz v Bollinger (2003)
The court struck down by 6-3 a points-based admissions system Michigan university that awarded an automatic bonus to the admissions score of minority applicants as being too ‘mechanistic’
Grutter v bollinger (2003)
A separate case decided on the same day as Gratz, 5-4 ruling that Michigan law schools admissions programmes as constitutional because it took an individualised approach when considering the racial profile of applicants
Meredith v Jefferson county (2007)
5-4 that it was unconstitutional to assign students to public schools solely for the purpose of achieving racial balance. The court protected the equal protection rights (14th ammendments) announced in Brown v Board(1954) and ended schools use of racial quotas to ensure balance in school populations
Fisher v Texas (2016)
Fisher argued that she’d been discriminated against because minority students with less impressive qualifications were admitted and she was not. SCOTUS originally found that the Texas university policy must be scrutinised more due to the possibility of disband sent the case back to the federal appeals court
SFFA v North Carolina
The uni of North Carolina admissions programme violated the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment 6-3 majority opinion that the programmed could also not continue
SFFA v Harvard
The Harvard admissions programmes violated the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. 6-3 majority opinion that the programme at Harvard could not continue to use race as a determining factor for admissions as it didn’t meet grutters strict conditions
Shelby county v Holder (2013)
SCOTUS ruled against section 4b which effectively meant there could no longer be a preclearance formula on voting rights
Husted v Randolph insititute (2018)
SCOTUS ruled voting caging was constitutional and permitted state action. Voting caging when voters who haven’t voted for a long time are removed from voting register (disproportionately affecting black Americans)
Merrill v Milligan
Alabama had changed to its racial population after the census was conducted which led to calls for another majority minority district. However the state didn’t create this district which had led to calls it violates VRA 1965
Rasul v Bush (2004)
Detainees at Guantánamo Bay were entitled to constitutional rights, protections for a fair trial
Hamdan v Rumsfeld (2006)
Detainees could only be subject to military trial with specific authorisation of Congress 
NFIB v Sebelius restraint or activism?
restraint - ruling complied with congress and uphelp ACA
NFIB v Sebelius politicisation?
yes - vote split 5-4 ideologically with roberts acting as swing justice
Trump v Hawaii - restraint or activism?
restraint - complied with President and upheld EO