American Supreme Court cases

US Supreme Court cases

 

Amendments:

1^st Amendment (speech)

·         Texas v. Johnson (1989) – Texas state law forbidding the US flag burning was declared unconstitutional, which G H W Bush declared wrong, dead wrong

·         Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) – the Court ruled that in terms of political speech and rights, business corporations have the same rights as individuals, overturning key provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (2002)/BCRA

·         Speechnow.org v. Federal Election(2010) –limits on contributions to groups that make donations is unconstitutional – meaning SuperPacs may donate unlimitedly

·         Snyder v. Phelps (2011) – the Court upheld the right of a fringe church group to stage anti-gay protests at military funerals

·         McCutcheon v. FEC (2014) – the court struck down overall limits for contributions

·         McCullen v. Coakley (2014) – buffer zones around abortion clinics violated the First Amendment; leaving it to the states to decide how to tackle harassment around abortion clinics

1^st Amendment (religion)

·         Engel v. Vitale (1962) – Ruled it was unconstitutional for states to impose compulsory school prayers

·         Town of Greece v. Galloway (2014)– two business boards could start their meetings with sectarian prayers; rejecting the First Amendment

·         Burwell v. Hobby Lobby (2014) – that closely held companies could opt out of certain provisions in the Affordable Care Act as it coincided with religious beliefs. This allowed certain businesses to refrain from paying and offering contraception/fertility treatments for religious reasons.

·         Holt v. Hobbs (2015) – protecting the rights of the Arkansas Muslim prisoner to grow his religious beard.

2^nd Amendment (right to bear arms)

·         District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) – the Supreme Court declared a law banning the ownership of handguns; requiring shotguns and rifles unloaded unconstitutional. This protects the Second Amendment.

^4th Amendment
·         Riley v. California (2014) – Extended the right to privacy to apply to new technology such as mobile phones, interpreted from the 4th amendment
·         Obergefell v. Hodges (2014) – Court deciding whether marriage is a constitutional right

5^th Amendment (right to remain silent)

·         Miranda v. Arizona (1966) – right to remain silent and to be reminded of that when being arrested

·         Dickerson v. US (2000) – the Court upheld the right of the arrested person to be read their Miranda rights

8^th Amendment (capital punishment)

·         Atkins v. Virginia (2002) – the court ruled the execution of the mentally retarded criminals was unconstitutional

·         Hall v. Florida (2014) – justices rejected Florida’s IQ cut-off as too rigid in declaring which mentally  disabled persons would be exempt from death penalty; illustrates taking the power from the states

14^th Amendment (rights of racial minorities)

·         Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – Ruled that segregation was constitutional under the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’

·         Brown v. Board of Education (1954) – Ruled that racial segregation was unconstitutional

·         Ricci v DeStefano (2009) – Supreme Court ruled that a fire department discriminated by favouring racial minority firefighters over white firefighters

·         Gratz v. Bollinger (2003) – the University of Michigan's affirmative action based admission prcess was unconstitutional because it was too mechanistic. 

·         Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) – ruled that the University of Michigan Law School had a race conscious admissions process that may favour underrepresented minority groups, deeming it a more individualised approach in considering the racial profile of applicants 

·         Fisher v. University of Texas (2013) – Fisher argued that the use of race was unconstitutional and violated the 14^th Amendment through the use of Affirmative Action. The Supreme Court voided the lower court’s ruling that the same level of scrutiny, as articulated in Grutter, and have continued to pursue. Many saw this as a veiled attack on affirmative action.

·         Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action (2014) – the court upheld a Michigan voter initiative that banned the use of race in university admissions. This case demonstrates the great amounts of power being delegated to the states themselves.

14^th Amendment (abortion rights)

·         Roe v Wade (1973) – Ruled abortion to be constitutional

·         Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)– The Court upheld a federal law banning an abortion procedure used late in pregnancy

14^th Amendment (privacy)

·         Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) – Established that the right to privacy is a right guaranteed by the Constitution under the 14^th Amendment

14^th Amendment (Equal protection clause; gay/LGBT rights)

·         Lawrence v. Texas (2003) – struck down the sodomy law in Texas and, by extension, invalidated sodomy laws in 13 other states. This made the same-sex sexual activity legal in every U.S. state and territory

·         US v. Windsor (2014) – Ruled that restricting the federal interpretation of ‘marriage’ and ‘spouse’ to only apply to heterosexuals was unconstitutional under the 5^th Amendment, subsequently the Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) was struck down
·         Hollingsworth v. Perry (2013) - legalisation of same sex marriage in California, as a direct opposition to Prop 8

Congressional power

·         National Federation of Independent Businesses v. Sebelius (2012) – the Supreme Court upheld Congress's power to enact most provisions of Obamacare, including a provision for most Americans to have health insurance by 2014.

Presidential power

·         United States v. Nixon (1974) – the Court declared President Nixon’s refusal to hand over the White House tapes to be unconstitutional

·         Clinton v. Jones (1997) – the court declared Clinton’s claim to immunity to prosecution in a sexual harassment case to be unconstitutional

·         National Labour Relations Board v. Noel Canning (2014) – limited presidential recess appointments. Ruled that these remain generally more permissible during breaks in the Senate session for over 10 days

·         Hamdan v. Rumsfield (2006) – the Court declared the military commissions set up by George W Bush to try Guantanamo Bay detainees to be unconstitutional  

Executive power

·         Norhwest Austin Manicipal District v. Holder (2009) – The Supreme Court’s conservative judges had the opportunity to overturn the Voting Rights Act (1965) but didn’t

Foreign policy

·         Hamdi v Rumsfield (2004) – under the Due Process Clause, enemies have a right to challenge their detainment

·         Rasul v Bush (2004) – the US Court system has the authority to decide whether foreign nationals held in Guantanamo were wrongfully imprisoned  

·         Boumediene v Bush (2008) – Guantanamo detainees have the constitutional right to challenge detainment through habeas corpus

·         Hamdan v Rumsfeld (2006) – the Court ruled that the detainees could not be subject to military trials without the specific authorisation of Congress.

Federalism

·         Shelby County v. Holder (2014) – Struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act (1965) and meant that states no longer needed to seek the approval of the Attorney General before changing their voting practices, subsequently leading to the adoption of Voter ID laws
·         Arizona v. United States (2012) – Struck down sections 3, 5(C) and 6 of SB 1070, the strictest anti-immigration law in the US. Other sections of the law remain intact. 

Supreme Court

·         Marbury v. Madison (1803)  - the first time the Supreme Court declared an Act of Congress unconstitutional

 If you can think of any more cases, please feel free to drop us a comment and we will add it to this post. 

Tamanna 

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