Supreme Court Cases

Davis v. Federal Election Commission

"Millionaire's amendment" to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 violates the First Amendment

Agostini v. Felton

A government program sending government employees to parochial schools (and also, to other private schools) specifically to provide remedial education to disadvantaged children (and not to all children) does not violate the First Amendment non establishment clause.

Romer v. Evans

A law cannot prohibit anti-discrimination laws for homosexuals (founded on the Equal Protection Clause)

Grutter v. Bollinger

A narrowly tailored use of race in student admission decisions may be permissible under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, as a diverse student body is beneficial for all students

Escobedo v. Illinois

A person in police custody has the right to speak to an attorney

Hustler Magazine v. Falwell

A public figure shown in a parody must show actual malice to claim he is libeled.

Roper v. Simmons

A sentence of death may not be imposed on juveniles

Bowers v. Hardwick

A state may declare the private practice in one's bedroom of certain sex acts to be a crime. Overturned in Lawrence v. Texas

Korematsu v. United States

American citizens of Japanese descent can be interned and deprived of basic constitutional rights; first application of the strict scrutiny test

Gideon v. Wainwright

Anyone charged with a serious criminal offense has the right to an attorney and the state must provide on eif they are unable to afford legal counsel

Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act's restriction on issue ads in election campaigns

Scott v. Sandford (Dred Scott case)

Blacks, whether free or slave, cannot be U.S. citizens. Consequently, they cannot sue in federal courts. Also the Federal Government cannot forbid slavery in the Western Territories before they access statehood. Voided by the 13th and 14th Amendments.

Printz v. United States

Brady Act requiring state official to execute a federal law (in doing background checks for gun ownership) is unconstitutional.

Gates v. Collier

Brought an end to the trusty system and flagrant inmate abuse at Mississippi State Penitentiary. Decreed that Corporal Punishment against prisoners was considered cruel and unusual punishment and abolished racial segregation in prison

Gregg v. Georgia

Carefully drafted death penalty statutes may be constitutional. This ruling made executions possible again after Furman v. Georgia had stopped them

Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire

Established the "fighting words doctrine" that some words are not protected under the First Amendment because they are tantamount to violent actions.

Schenck v. United States

Established the idea that "clear and present danger" in certain speech is not protected by the First Amendment. Schenck's attempts to obstruct recruitment processes were perceived as a "clear and present danger that will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent".

Mapp. v. Ohio

Evidence obtained by searches and seizures in violation of the United States Constitution is inadmissible in a criminal trial in a state court

Katz. United States

Evidence obtained by wiretapping a public phone booth without a warrant is not admissible in court, just as if a private phone line had been eavesdropped.

Cruzan v. Dir., Mo. Dep't of Health

Family having requested the termination of life-sustaining treatment of their vegetative relative, the state may constitutionally oppose this request, for lack of evidense of a clear earlier wish by said relative. (The state later withdrew its objection)

Abington School Dist. v. Schempp (and Murray v. Curlett)

First Amendment non establishment clause forbids state mandated reading of the Bible, or recitation of the Lord's Prayer in public schools.

Lemon v. Kurtzman

For a law to be considered constitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, the law must have a legitimate secular purpose, must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion, and must not result in an excessive entanglement of government and religion.

United States v/ Virginia

Found that sex-based "separate but equal" military training facilities violate the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause

Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah

Government must show a compelling interest to draw a statute targeting a religion's ritual (as opposed to a statute that happens to burden the ritual, but is not directed at it). Failing to show such an interest, the prohibition of animal sacrifice is a violation of First Amendment free exercise clause.

New York Times v. United States

Government's desire to keep so-called "Pentagon Papers" classified is insufficient to overcome 1st Amendment hurdle.

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld

Guantanamo Bay detainees may not be tried by a military commission under the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, and said military commission violates the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Conventions, both of which apply to the detainees, in that accused and their counsels may be excluded from their trial and knowing what evidence has been put against them

Rice v. Collins

Habeas corpus relief may not be granted on the basis of debatable inferences used to overturn the trial court's finding vis-á-vis peremptory challenges

City of Boerne v. Flores

In the context of Constitutional rights, Congress cannot invoke substantive change in Constitutional protections (here, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993), but can only enact legislation that remedies or prevents actual violations of existing rights

Texas v. Johnson

Law prohibiting burning of the American flag is unconstitutional as violating the First Amendment

Loving v. Virginia

Laws prohibiting marriage between races (anti-miscegenation statutes) are unconstitutional

Roberts v. Lousiana

Mandatory death sentences are unconstitutional

Griswold v. Connecticut

Married people are entitled to use of contraception and making it a crime to sell them to same is unconstitutional unconstitutional (later extended to unmarried adults)

Brandenburg v. Ohio

Mere advocacy of the use of force, or of violation of law (in this case, by a Ku Klux Klan leader) is protected by the 1st Amendment free speech clause. Only inciting others to take direct and immediate unlawful action would be without constitutional protection.

Roe v. Wade

Most restrictions on first-trimester abortions are unconstitutional

Vacco v. Quill

New York's prohibition on assisting suicide does not violate the Equal Protection Clause

Woodson v. North Carolina

North Carolina's mandatory death sentence statute violates the 8th and 14th Amendments

Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc.

Nude dancing is not protected by the 1st Amendment.

Roth v. United States

Obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment.

Cohen v. California

One should not be convicted for wearing a jacket in a courtroom emblazoned with the phrase "F@#$ the Draft" (in the Vietnam War context), as this is communication, protected by the free speech clause of the 1st Amendment. The word "****" itself, clearly not directed at the hearer, is not in this particular instance a fighting word, and so not without constitutional protection.

Wisconsin v. Yoder

Parents may remove children from public school for religious reasons.

Gonzales v. Carhart

Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act

Planned Parenthood of Se. Pa. v. Casey

Pennsylvania's abortion law is unconstitutional and Roe v. Wade is still a valid precedent

Miranda v. Arizona

Police must advise criminal suspects of their rights under the Constitution to remain silent, to consult with a lawyer and to have one appointed if he is an indigent. The interrogation must stop if the suspect stated he wishes to remain silent

Boy Scouts of America v. Dale

Private organizations' First Amendment right of expressive association allows them to choose their own membership and expel members based on their sexual orientation even if such discrimination would otherwise be prohibited by anti-discrimination legislation designed to protect minorities in public accommodations.

New York Times v. Sullivan

Public officials, to prove they were libeled, must show not only that a statement is false, but also that it has been published with malicious intent

Lee v. Weisman

Public schools inviting clergy to read prayer at an official ceremony (here a graduation ceremony) violates First Amendment non-establishment clause.

Adarand Constructors, Inc. V. Pena

Race based discrimination, including discrimination in favor of minorities (affirmative action), is subject to strict judicial scrutiny

Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke

Race based set-asides in educational opportunities violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The case leaves the door open to some race usage in admission decisions.

Proffitt v. Florida

Requirement of comparison of mitigating to aggravating factors to be used to impose death sentence is unconstitutional

Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton

Schools may require random drug testing

Plessy v. Ferguson

Segregated facilities for blacks and whites are constitutional under the doctrine of separate but equal, which held for close to 60 years

Bolling v. Sharpe

Segregated schools in the District of Columbia violated the 5th Amendment (companion case to Brown)

Brown v. Bd. of Educ. of Topeka

Segregated schools in the several states are unconstitutional in violation of the 14th Amendment, overturning Plessy

Craig v. Boren

Setting different minimum ages according to sex (female 18, male 21) to be allowed to buy beer is unconstitutional sex-based discrimination, contrary to the equal protection clause

Frontiero v. Richardson

Sex-based discriminations are inherently suspect. A statute giving benefits to the spouses of male, but not female members of the uniformed services (on the assumption that only the former were dependent) is unconstitutional

U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton

State law cannot set term limits on members of Congress.

Lawrence v. Texas

Texas law that prohibits gays from engaging in consensual sodomy in private is an unreasonable invasion of privacy by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment

Jurek v. Texas

The "three-pronged" test for determining if the death penalty should be imposed is unconstitutional

United States v. Lopez

The Commerce clause of the Constitution does not give Congress the power to regulate guns in state-operated schools.

Reno v. ACLU

The Communications Decency Act, regulating certain content on the Internet, is so overbroad as to be an unconstitutional restraint on the 1st Amendment.

Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States

The Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 can be applied to a place of accommodation, prohibiting discrimination against blacks

Clinton v. Jones

The President of the United States has no particular immunity, which could require civil law litigation against the President for a dispute unrelated to the office of President (e.g. having occurred before (s) he took office), to be stayed until the end of the President's term. Such delay would deprive plaintiffs, (and arguably the defendant), of the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.

United States v. Nixon

The President of the United States is not above the law.

McCulloch v. Maryland

The court stated the doctrine of implied powers, from the necessary and proper clause at Article I, section 8. To fulfill its goal, the federal government may use any means the constitution does not forbid (as opposed to only what the constitution explicitly allow or only what can be proved to be necessary). State government may in no way hinder the legitimate action of the federal government (here, Maryland cannot levy a tax on the Bank of the United States). The court has varied in time on the extents of the implied powers with a markedly narrower reading approximately from the 1840s to the 1930s.

Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co.

The federal government may prohibit discrimination in housing by private parties under the Civil Rights Act of 1968

Furman v. Georgia

The method then in effect for imposing the death penalty is unconstitutional

Katzenbach v. McClung

The power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce extends to a restaurant not patronized by interstate travelers, as it served food that has moved in interstate commerce. This ruling makes the Civil Rights Act of 1964 apply virtually all business

Miller v. California

To be obscene, a work must fail several tests to determine its value to society, essentially having "no redeeming social value" to be so declared.

Gonzales v. Oregon

United States Attorney General could not enforce the Controlled Substances Act against physicians prescribing drugs for the assisted suicide of the terminally ill as permitted by an Oregon law.

Rosenberger v. University of Virginia

University can't fund secular groups from student dues, then exclude religious ones that also qualify under the same funding scheme.

Erie v. Pap's A. M

Upholding the 1991 ruling that Nude dancing is not protected by the 1st Amendment.

Washington v. Glucksberg

Washington's prohibition on assisting suicide is constitutional.

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

Wearing armbands is a legitimate form of protest under the First Amendment, even on public school grounds

South Dakota v. Dole

Withholding of Federal highway funds to force state to raise drinking age to 21 is permissible.

Marbury v. Madison

a case that established the Supreme Court's power to strike down acts of United States Congress that were in conflict with the Constitution (see judicial review).

Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1

affirmative action; using race as a tie-breaker in assigning students to public schools. Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education (companion case)

Lochner v. New York

asserted that the "right to free contract" or "liberty of contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

New Jersey v. Delaware

boundary dispute between New Jersey and Delaware involving the Twelve-Mile Circle

Philip Morris USA v. Williams

constitutional limitations on punitive damages

Baze v. Rees

constitutionality of lethal injection protocols under the Eighth Amendment

Crawford v. Marion County Election Board

constitutionality of requiring voters to show ID before voting

United States v. Williams

constitutionality of the PROTECT Act, a 2003 law intended to bolster federal restriction against child pornography, in the wake of Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition

Microsoft v. AT&T

copying software in a foreign country cannot violate U.S. patent law

District of Columbia v. Heller

does the Second Amendment allows a state or local government to outlaw the private possession of handguns?

Herring v. United States

evidence obtained during a search the police conducted as a result of an isolated act of negligence not related to the search is not subject to the exclusionary rule

Panetti v. Quarterman

executing the mentally ill

Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals

expert evidence must be generally accepted in the scientific community (Daubert standard).

The Paquete Habana

federal courts could look to customary international law because it is an integrated part of American law.

Martin v. Hunter's Lessee

federal courts may review State court decisions when they rest on federal law or the federal constitution. This decision provides for the uniform interpretation of federal law throughout the various states.

Goldberg v. Kelly

federal entitlement programs such as welfare conferred property rights on recipients, and their termination required procedural due process.

Fletcher v. Peck

first time the Court struck down a State law as unconstitutional. A State legislature (in this case, Georgia) can repeal a previous, corruptly made law (in this case, a land grant), but not void valid contracts made under this law.

Morse v. Frederick

free speech rights of high school students ("Bong Hits 4 Jesus")

Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.

government agencies' interpretation of its own mandate from Congress is entitled to judicial deference if the authority is ambiguous and the agency's interpretation is reasonable.

Munaf v. Geren

habeas corpus statute extends to American citizens held overseas by American forces operating subject to an American chain of command

Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights

law schools receiving federal funds may not ban military recruiters

Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker

legality of punitive damages award under federal maritime law for the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.

making of individual copies of complete television shows for purposes of time-shifting does not constitute copyright infringement, but is fair use.

Indiana v. Edwards

may a criminal defendant be competent to stand trial yet simultaneously not competent to represent himself at that trial?

Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council

military preparedness outweighs environmental concerns, as Navy needs to train its crews to detect modern, silent submarines

Lopez v. Gonzales

misdemeanor drug crimes as aggravated felonies

Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service

originality, not sweat of the brow, is the touchstone of copyright protection.

Hurley v. Irish American Gay Group of Boston

private parade organizers have a right to exclude groups from participating with whose message they disagree.

Breard v Greene

rejected jurisdiction of International Court of Justice in a capital punishment case dealing with a citizen of Paraguay.

Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation

taxpayer standing to pursue an Establishment Clause claim against President Bush's faith-based initiative

Oregon v. Ice

the facts necessary for imposing consecutive prison terms need not be submitted to a jury in accordance with Apprendi v. New Jersey

Missouri v. Holland

treaties made by the federal government are supreme over any state concerns about such treaties having abrogated any states' rights arising under the Tenth Amendment.

United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez

trial court's erroneous deprivation of a criminal defendant's choice of counsel entitles him to reversal of his conviction

San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez

use of property tax as means to finance public education is constitutional.

Kimbrough v. United States

whether the 100:1 ratio between powder and crack cocaine imposed by the United States Sentencing Commission yields "reasonable" sentences

Boumediene v. Bush

whether the Military Detainee Treatment Act of 2006 unconstitutionally suspends the writ of habeas corpus

Watson v. United States

whether trading drugs for a gun constitutes use of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 924 and Bailey v. United States