supreme court cases ineed to know

Minor v. Happersett (1874)

Supreme Court ruled that citizenship did not automatically give women the right to vote. The Court said the 14th Amendment did not guarantee voting rights, so states could legally restrict voting to men.

Buck v. Bell (1927)

Supreme Court ruled that states could forcibly sterilized people considered “unfit” without violating the Constitution. The decision upheld Virginia eugenics law and helped legitimize forced sterilization programs, especially targeting people with disabilities and other marginalized groups.

Relf v. Weinberger (1974)

A federal court found that poor women receiving government assistance were being sterilized without proper informed consent, including the Relf sisters, who were minors. The case led to stronger federal rules requiring informed, voluntary consent for federally funded sterilizations and helped expose the continued abuse of sterilization after the eugenics era.

Madrigal v. Quilligan (1978)

Mexican American women sued doctors at a Los Angeles hospital, arguing that they had been sterilized without fully informed consent, often after childbirth. The court rules in favor of the doctors, finding insufficient evidence that they intentionally coerced the women, but the case exposed majors problems with informed consent, language barriers, and reproductive discrimination against Latina women.

Louisiana v. Callais (2026)

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Louisiana’s congressional map, which created a second majority- Black district, was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The court held that the voting rights act did not require Louisiana to create that additional majority-minority district, so the state lacked sufficient justification for using race as the predominant factor in drawing it.

Griswold v Connecticut (1965)

the Supreme Court ruled that married couples have a constitutional right to privacy when deciding whether to use contraception. The decision struck down a Connecticut law banning contraceptives and established a broader constitutional right to marital privacy.

Eisenstadt v Baird (1972)

The Supreme Court ruled that unmarried people have the same right to access contraception as married people. the decision expanded the privacy principles of Griswold v. Connecticut and emphasized that reproductive decisions belong to the individual, regardless of marital status.