SCOTUS Cases - Newshacker

This page lists all coverage on the Supreme Court of the United States on Newshacker Blog.

Landmark Rulings

These are some of the most important rulings the Supreme Court has ever made and continue to affect our daily lives. Ordered by date, from oldest to newest.

Marbury v. Madison (1803): Established judicial review as a power of the courts, by striking down a law Congress passed as unconstitutional.
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): Declared that a slave was not automatically freed even after living in a free state, that all African Americans were not entitled to U.S. citizenship, and that slavery was legal. Overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments.
Texas v. White (1869): Texas remained a full state even during the Civil War, and states cannot simply unilaterally declare secession from the United States.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Racially-segregated facilities are acceptable as long as both facilities are equal. Established the “separate but equal” doctrine. Overruled by Brown v. Board of Education.
Brown v. Board of Education (1954): Racially-segregated “separate but equal” schools violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and are thus unconstitutional. Overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson.
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963): States must provide an attorney to those who are unable to afford one in all criminal trials under the Sixth Amendment.
Miranda v. Arizona (1966): Police are required to advise people arrested of their rights to remain silent and to have a lawyer. Established the “Miranda warning.”
Loving v. Virginia (1967): Interracial marriage bans in the state of Virginia are unconstitutional.
New York Times Co. v. United States (1971): Strengthened the press freedoms protected by the First Amendment. The U.S. government’s desire to keep the Pentagon Papers secret did not justify invoking prior restraint to stop The New York Times from publishing the papers.
Roe v. Wade (1973): The right to abortion is guaranteed in the Constitution under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
United States v. Nixon (1974): Presidents cannot make use of executive privilege to avoid providing court-subpoenaed materials in a criminal investigation.
United States v. Virginia (1996): Sex-based “separate but equal” military training facilities violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Bush v. Gore (2000): The winner of the 2000 election was George W. Bush as the recount of ballots in Florida violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008): The Second Amendment grants the right to individuals to carry firearms regardless of whether it is related to a militia.
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015): Established that the 14th Amendment requires that all states license marriage to same-sex couples.
Trump v. Vance (2020): Presidents are not subject to a heightened standard in order to be subpoenaed for a criminal investigation in court.
Trump v. Mazars (2020): Established a balancing test that courts must weigh before deciding whether or not a congressional presidential subpoena is valid.
Chiafalo v. Washington (2020): It is legal for states to punish faithless electors who vote against the state’s popular vote winner in the Electoral College.
Bostock v. Clayton County (2020): Expanded protections listed in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also apply to LGTBQ people.

Other Important Rulings

These cases are not as significant as the landmark cases above but are still significant. Ordered from oldest to newest.

Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905): It is legal for states to enact compulsory vaccination laws when in the interest of public health.
June Medical Services, LLC v. Gee (2020): Held that abortion remained legal under the precedent set by Roe v. Wade.
Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California (2020): The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is legal and must be maintained by the Trump administration.
California v. Texas (2021): The Affordable Care Act cannot be struck down in its entirity after the individual mandate provision of the law was effectively repealed by Congress.

Supreme Court Takes

These posts discuss different happenings at the Supreme Court and also include a number of posts related to the Supreme Court but are not an analysis of a past case, or are posts about a case that has yet to be decided.

Landmark Case Posts Coming Soon…

A sneak peek of what is to come in this series.

Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)
United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)
Powell v. Alabama (1932)
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)
Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (1964)
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections (1966)
Katz v. United States (1967)
Terry v. Ohio (1968)
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969)
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. (1984)
New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985)
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
U.S. Term Limits Inc. v. Thornton (1995)
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)
United States v. Windsor (2013)
Shelby County v. Holder (2013)