The New York Public Library Desk Reference, pp. 365-366.
1803 Marbury v.
Madison
For the first time, the Supreme Court ruled an act of Congress
unconstitutional, establishing the principle of judicial review.
1819 McCullock v.
Maryland
The Court’s ruling upheld the constitutionality of the creation of the
Bank of the United States and denied to the states the power to tax such
an institution because, as Justice John Marshall put it, “the power to
tax is the power to destroy.”
1819 Trustees of Dartmouth College v.
Woodward
The Court ruled that a state could not arbitrarily alter the terms of a
contract. Although this case applied to a college, its implications
widened in later years when the same principle was used to limit states’
ability to interfere with business contracts.
1857 Dred Scott v.
Sanford
The Missouri Compromise was declared unconstitutional because it
deprived a person of his property (a slave) without due process of law.
This was only the second time that the Court had asserted the power of
judicial review. The decision also stated that slaves are not citizens
of any state or of the United States
1877 Munn v.
Illinois
States were allowed to regulate businesses when “a public interest” was
involved. This principle was weakened by rulings in other cases in the
late nineteenth century.
1895 U.S. v. E.C. Knight
Co.
In stating that manufacturing and commerce are not connected, and that
the Sherman Anti-Trust Act could not be applied to manufacturers, the
Court seriously impaired the government’s ability to regulate
monopolies.
1896 Plessy v.
Ferguson
The Supreme Court ruled that state laws enforcing segregation by race
are constitutional if accommodations are equal as well as separate.
Subsequently overturned by Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
1904 Northern Securities Co. v.
U.S.
The High Court backed government action against big businesses that
restrained trade, in effect, putting teeth in the Sherman Anti-Trust
Act.
1908 Muller v.
Oregon
The Court ruled that a state could legislate maximum working hours
based on evidence complied by attorney Louis Brandeis.
1911 Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey Et Al. v.
U.S.
The Court dissolved the Standard Oil Trust not because of its size but
because of its unreasonable restraint of trade. The principle involved
is called “the rule of reason.”
1919 Schenck v.
U.S.
The Court upheld the World War I Espionage Act. In a landmark decision
dealing with free speech, Justice Oliver W. Holmes said that a person
who encourages draft resistance during a war is a “clear and present
danger.”
1935 Schechter v.
U.S.
Invalidating the National Industrial Recovery Act of the New Deal, the
Court declared that Congress could not delegate its powers to the
President.
1951 Dennis Et Al. v.
U.S.
The Supreme Court ruled the 1946 Smit Act constitutional; the act made
it a crime to advocate the overthrow of the government by force. In its
1957 Yates v.
U.S.
decision, the Court tempered this ruling by permitting such advocacy in
the abstract if it is not connected to action to achieve this goal.
1954 Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka
In an example of sociological jurisprudence, the Court held
unconstitutional laws enforcing segragated schools; it called for
desegregation of schools “with all deliberate speed.”
1957 Roth v.
U.S.
The ruling based obscenity decisions on whether a publication appeals
to “prurient interests.” The Court also said that obscene material is
that which lacks any “redeeming social importance.”
1961 Mapp v.
Ohio
The High Court extended the federal exclusionary rule to the states;
this rule prevented prosecutors from using illegally obtained evidence
in a criminal trial.
1962 Baker v.
Carr
The Court held that state legislatures must be apportioned to provide
equal protection under the law (Fourteenth Amendment). A follow-up
decision applied the same principle to the size of congressional
districts, insisting that they be approximately equal in population.
1966 Miranda v.
Arizona
The case declared that before questioning suspects, police must inform
them of their right to remain silent, that any statements they make can
be used against them, and that they have the right to remain silent
until they have an attorney, which the state will provide if they cannot
afford to pay.
1972 Furman v.
Georgia
The Court found unconstitutional all death penalty statues then in
force in the states, but held out the possibility that if they were
rewritten so as to be less subjective and randomly imposed, they might
be constitutional (as the Court has subsequently held in many
instances).
1973 Roe v.
Wade
The Court ruled state anti-abortion laws unconstitutional, except as
they apply to the last trimester of pregnancy.
1978 University of California v.
Bakke
The ruling allowed a university to admit students on the basis of race
if the school’s aim is to combat discrimination. Subsequent decisions of
the Court have filled in the details of how government and business may
use quotas to make up for past racism.
1986 Bowers v.
Hardwick
In a case involving enforcement of Georgia’s law against sodomy, the
Court ruled that states have the power to regulate sexual relations in
private between consenting adults.
A similar, more detailed list of important Supreme Court Cases.