Court Cases

Marbury v Madison - established judicial review

Gibbons V. Ogden - Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) - People of African descent cannot be U.S. citizens

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) - Upheld ‘separate but equal’ segregation laws

Korematsu v. United States (1944) - Upheld internment of Japanese Americans during WWII

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) - Declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional

Mapp v. Ohio (1961) - Illegally obtained evidence cannot be used in court

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) - The state must provide a lawyer to defendants who can’t afford one

Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) - Students have free speech rights in school

Roe v. Wade (1973) - Legalized abortion based on a trimester framework

U.S. v. Nixon (1974) - The President is not above the law

Regents of CA v. Bakke (1978) - Struck down racial quotas but upheld affirmative action

New Jersey v. T.L.O (1985) - School searches must be reasonable under the Fourth Admendent

Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1983) - School officials can censor school- sponsored publications

Texas v. Johnson (1989) - Flag Burning is protected free speech

Vernonia v. Acton (1995) - Random drug testing of student athletes is constitutional

Abington v. Schempp (1963) - No school - sponsored Bible readings in public schools.

Engle v. Vitale (1962) - State-mandated prayer in schools is unconstitutional

Loving v. Virginia (1967) - Struck down bans on interracial marriage