Required Supreme Court Cases

Details: Dispute over judicial appointments. Established the principle of judicial review, allowing the Supreme Court to declare acts of the legislative or executive branch unconstitutional.
Legal Question: Can the Supreme Court declare acts of other branches unconstitutional?
Ruling: The Supreme Court held that Marbury was entitled to his commission, but the court did not have the authority to enforce it. Established judicial review.

Details: National bank and state taxes conflict. Established the supremacy of the U.S. Constitution and federal laws over state laws.
Legal Question: Whether the state of Maryland had the power to tax a branch of the national bank.
Ruling: The Supreme Court held that the state of Maryland did not have the power to tax the national bank, affirming the supremacy of federal laws.

Details: Speech creating a "clear and present danger." Established that speech creating a 'clear and present danger' is not protected by the First Amendment and can be limited.
Legal Question: Whether the defendant's conviction under the Espionage Act for criticizing the draft violated the First Amendment.
Ruling: The Supreme Court ruled that the defendant's conviction was constitutional because his speech posed a clear and present danger to the nation.

Details: Challenge to school segregation.
Legal Question: Does race-based segregation violate the Equal Protection Clause?
Ruling: Segregation violates the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court unanimously held that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, overturning the 'separate but equal' doctrine.

Details: Redistricting and political questions.
Legal Question: Can federal courts hear redistricting cases?
Ruling: The Supreme Court held that redistricting issues are not political questions and are within the court's jurisdiction.

Details: School sponsorship of religious activities.
Legal Question: Does school sponsorship of religion violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause?
Ruling: The Supreme Court held that the state-endorsed prayer in public schools was unconstitutional. Violates the Establishment Clause.

Details: Right to an attorney for felony defendants.
Legal Question: Whether the Sixth Amendment's right to counsel extends to felony defendants in state courts.
Ruling: Extends procedural due process protections. The Supreme Court unanimously held that the right to counsel is a fundamental right essential for a fair trial.

Details: Students' freedom of speech.
Legal Question: Does prohibiting black armbands (symbolic speech) violate freedom of speech?
Ruling: The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students, stating that students do not 'shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.'

Details: Freedom of the press and prior restraint.
Legal Question: Whether the government's attempt to prevent the publication of the Pentagon Papers violated the First Amendment. Can the press be restrained in cases involving national security?
Ruling: The Supreme Court held that the government's actions constituted prior restraint and were unconstitutional. Established heavy presumption against prior restraint.

Details: Compelling Amish students to attend school.
Legal Question: Whether Wisconsin's compulsory school attendance law violated the rights of the Amish under the First Amendment (freedom to practice religion).
Ruling: The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Amish, stating that the state's interest in education was not compelling enough to override the parents' right to direct the religious upbringing of their children.

Details: Allowed challenges to majority-minority districts created solely based on race under the Equal Protection Clause.
Legal Question: Whether the creation of a majority-minority district based solely on race is constitutional.
Ruling: The Supreme Court held that race cannot be the predominant factor in redistricting and that such districts could be subject to strict scrutiny.

Details: Limited Congress's power under the Commerce Clause by invalidating a federal law on gun possession in school zones.
Legal Question: Whether the Gun-Free School Zones Act exceeded Congress's power under the Commerce Clause.
Ruling: The Supreme Court held that the Act was unconstitutional as it exceeded Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce.

Details: Applied the Second Amendment's right to keep and bear arms to the states for self-defense.
Legal Question: Whether the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is incorporated against the states.
Ruling: The Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment applies to the states and protects an individual's right to possess a firearm for self-defense.

Details: Protected political spending by corporations, associations, and labor unions as a form of speech under the First Amendment.
Legal Question: Whether the government could regulate political spending by corporations under the First Amendment.
Ruling: The Supreme Court held that political spending is a form of protected speech and that restrictions on such spending by corporations, associations, and labor unions are unconstitutional.