APUSH Supreme Court Cases Flashcards

Flashcards for reviewing key Supreme Court cases in US History.

The Marshall Court (1801-1835)

Established the Supreme Court as a powerful institution and generally favored a strong federal government.

Marbury v. Madison (1803)

Asserts the right of the federal judiciary to interpret the Constitution and strike down federal laws that conflict with it.

McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)

The State of Maryland cannot tax the 2nd BUS, because it’s a constitutionally created arm of the federal government.

Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)

New York could not stop a New York to New Jersey steamship line from operating in New York (Commerce Clause).

Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)

Ruled that Indian nations were not foreign nations, but partially sovereign entities dependent on the federal government.

Worcester v. Georgia (1832)

Ruled that only the federal government could deal with Indian nations and that states had no authority to pass laws regarding the Indian nations.

Roger B. Taney Court

The Court's rulings took on a more Jacksonian tone in the late antebellum period.

Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge (1837)

The Court sided with Warren Bridge, citing that the public interest and free enterprise outweighed the value of a monopolistic contract.

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Ruled that neither African slaves nor their descendants can be US citizens and that the Federal Government cannot legislate about slavery in the territories.

Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)

Interpreted the 14th Amendment as applying only to limited matters of federal citizenship and that it does not apply to rights of citizens of states such as those listed in the Bill of Rights.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Public facilities may be segregated on a “separate but equal” basis and still satisfy the 14th Amendment’s requirements for equal protection of laws.

In re Debs (1895)

SCOTUS upheld a federal order for Pullman strikers, led by Eugene V. Debs, to get back to work (interstate commerce, postal service, etc.).

Insular Cases (1901)

The Court ruled that inhabitants of overseas U.S. territories do not automatically have the same constitutional rights as Americans living in the continental United States.

Schechter Poultry Corp v. United States (1935)

SCOTUS strikes down provisions of the New Deal (specifically the National Recovery Administration [NRA]) as unconstitutional.

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

SCOTUS decides in favor of Japanese internment - ruled that it did not violate the civil rights of US citizens of Japanese descent.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson - public schools must be integrated “with all deliberate speed”.

Schenck v. U.S.

Official restrictions on freedom of speech grew during World War I, as increased anxiety about radicalism led to a Red Scare and attacks on labor activism and immigrant culture.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The three branches of the federal government used measures to promote greater racial equality.

Roe v. Wade

Growing clashes between conservatives and liberals over social and cultural issues, the powerof the federal government, race, and movements for greater individual rights.

Regents of UC v. Bakke

Growing clashes between conservatives and liberals over social and cultural issues, the powerof the federal government, race, and movements for greater individual rights.

Gideon v. Wainwright

Right to an Attorney

Miranda v. Arizona

Rights of the Accused

Engel v. Vitale

School Prayer