Supreme Court Cases
Racial segregation was constitutional if equal facilities were made available to each race
Established the “separate but equal doctrine
Plessy v. Ferguson 1886
Radical Republican Charles Sumner tried to desegregate schools and facilities but failed due to these cases
Decision: 14th Amendment protected citizens only from government infringement of civil rights, not from acts by private citizens
Illustrates how the end of Reconstruction led to many Black rights being taken away
Civil Rights Cases of 1883
This socialist gave a public speech to recruit and advocate insubordination, disloyalty, and mutiny in the armed forces
He was arrested and charged with violating the Espionage Act
Did the U.S. violate freedom of speech?
Decision: Because he posed a “clear and present danger,” his right to freedom of speech was not guaranteed
Debs v. U.S. 1919
Unanimous ruling reversed the Plessy case
Separating school children solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority, therefore violating the 14th Amendment
Separate facilities are inherently unequal
Successfully presented by NAACP attorneys Thurgood Marshall and Oliver Hill
Southern states refused to desegregate with “all deliberate speed” and ignored the ruling (Little Rock 9)
Brown v Board of Education of Topeka 1954
Established the power of judicial review, the power of the Supreme Court to declare laws unconstitutional
Background: Adams’s “midnight appointments” before Jefferson’s Presidency
More power to the federal government
Marbury v. Madison 1803
Did a state have the power to tax a national corporation, specifically a branch of the Second Bank of the U.S.?
Supreme Court decision: Congress does have the power to charter a national bank due to “implied” powers and states couldn’t interfere
More power to the federal government
McCullough v Maryland 1819
Upheld internment of Japanese Americans during WWII
Another example of how civil rights are not as important during times of cries when the welfare/safety/security of the country is more important
Korematsu v U.S. 1944
Does a state have the right o prohibit the use of contraceptives and other intimate relations, or does this violate he right to privacy?
The right to privacy is protected by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment
Griswold v. Connecticut 1965
Midwestern farmers felt victimized by exorbitant freight rates they were forced to pay to powerful railroad companies
As a result, this state passed a law that allowed the state to fix maximum rates that railroads and grain elevator companies could charge
Decision: Supreme Court upheld the sate law
Mann v Illinois 1877
States could NOT regulate interstate commerce
Grangers were farmers who hated the railroads which practiced unfair discounting to influential people.
Reversed the previous ruling which stated that states could regulate grain elevators; therefore asserted the power of the federal government to oversee railroad activities
Wabash v. Illinois 1886
The accused had the right to inspect government files used by the prosecution
Chief Justice Earl Warren criticized for rulings like this that defended the rights of persons accused of subversive beliefs during the Cold War
Jencks v U.S. 1957
Native group proclaimed themselves an independent nation in this state, but the state still tried to extend its power over the natives
Decision: Native group was NOT an independent ward within Georgia but a “domestic dependent nation,” ora ward of the U.S.
Cherokee Nation v Georgia 1831
Enslaved person taken by “master’ from MO into IL and WI which were closed to slavery (MO Compromise)
Ruling: residence in a free territory did not make him free, he did not have the right to sue in federal courts, and no Black person (free or slave) could become a U.S. citizen
Ruled the MO Compromise unconstitutional due to the 5th Amendment “protection of property”
Uproar brought U.S. closer to Civil War
Dred Scott v. Sanford 1857
Orders dissolution of a monopoly
Represented Progressive movement’s success in weakening trusts
Standard Oil Company v U.S. 1911
Clarified the native group’s case by holding that even though they were not an independent nation, they were still entitled to federal protection from the previous case ruling
Jackson ignored it, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it.”
Worcester v Georgia 1832
TX woman wanted an abortion, but state law made abortion illegal
She stated the law violated her right to privacy by telling her what to do with her own body
Decision: legalized abortion and struck down all remaining state laws infringing on a woman’s right to abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy
Roe v Wade 1973
Justified Espionage Act convictions of antiwar activists when the exercise of freedom of speech posed a “clear and present danger”
Another example of how civil rights are not as important during times of crises when the welfare/safety/security of the country is more important
Schenck v. U.S. 1919