Essential Supreme Court Decisions

Preface to the Eighteenth Edition
Acknowledgments
This Is Our Supreme Court
1 Article I: The Legislative Branch
Powers
Commerce
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
Brown v. Maryland (1827)
Cooley v. the Board of Wardens of the Port of Philadelphia (1851)
United States v. E. C. Knight Co. (1895)
In re Debs (1895)
Champion v. Ames (1903)
The Shreveport Case (1914)
Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918)
Stafford v. Wallace (1922)
Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority (1936)
West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937)
[United States v. Carolene Products Company (1938)]* [United States v. F. W. Darby Lumber Co. (1941)] Wickard v. Filburn (1942)
United States v. Southeastern Underwriters Association (1944)
Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (1964)
United States v. Lopez (1995)
Jones v. United States (2000)
[United States v. Morrison (2000)] Gonzales v. Raich (2005)
[National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebilius (2012)]
Taylor v. United States (2016)

Delegation of Powers
J. W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States (1928)
Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan (1935)
Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States (1935)
United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. (1936)
Mistretta v. United States (1989)

Implied Powers
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
McGrain v. Daugherty (1927)
Watkins v. United States (1957)
Barenblatt v. United States (1959)

Taxing/Spending and Regulatory Powers
Hylton v. United States (1796)
Collector v. Day (1871)
Legal Tender Cases (1871)
Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Co. (1895)
McCray v. United States (1904)
Swift and Co. v. United States (1905)
Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States (1910)
Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co. (1922)
United States v. Butler (1936)
Steward Machine Co. v. Davis (1937)
National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation (1937)
Graves v. New York ex rel. O'Keefe (1939)
Mulford v. Smith (1939)
South Dakota v. Dole (1987)
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012)
National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning (2014)
King v. Burwell (2015)
Michigan v. EPA (2015)
Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2020)

Privileges and Terms of Members
Powell v. McCormack (1969)
Gravel v. United States (1972)
U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995)

2Article II: The Executive Branch
Powers
Martin v. Mott (1827)
Ex parte Merryman (1861)
Mississippi v. Johnson (1867)
In re Neagle (1890)
Myers v. United States (1926)
Ex parte Grossman (1925)
Rathbun, Humphrey's Executor v. United States (1935)
Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952)
Dames and Moore v. Regan (1981)
Haig v. Agee (1981)
Trump v. Hawaii (2018)
Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California (2020)

Privileges and Limitations
United States v. Nixon (1974)
Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982)
Clinton v. Jones (1997)
Trump v. Vance (2020)

3 Articles I and II: Distinct Yet Overlapping Powers
Separation of Powers Issues
United States v. Lovett (1946)
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha (1983)
Bowsher v. Snyar (1986)
Morrison v. Olson (1988)
Clinton v. City of New York (1998)
Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (2010)

Treaties and Executive Agreements
Missouri v. Holland (1920)
United States v. Belmont (1937)
Goldwater v. Carter (1979)
Zivotofsky v. Kerry (2015)

War-Making Powers
The Prize Cases (1863)
Ex parte Milligan (1866)
Selective Draft Law Cases (1918)
Hamilton v. Kentucky Distilleries & Warehouse Co. (1919)
Ex parte Quirin (1942)
Korematsu v. United States (1944)
Woods v. Cloyd W. Miller Co. (1948)
Johnson v. Eisentrager (1950)
[Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952)]
Rostker v. Goldberg (1981)
Hamdi v. Rumsfeld (2004)
Rasul v. Bush (2004)
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006)
Boudmediene v. Bush (2008)

4 Article III: The Judicial Branch
Judicial Jurisdiction and Standing
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Martin v. Hunter's Lessee (1816)
Cohens v. Virginia (1821)
Eakin v. Raub (1825)
Ableman v. Booth (1859)
Ex parte McCardle (1869)
Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. Mellon (Frothingham v. Mellon) (1923)
Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins (1938)
Cooper v. Aaron (1958)
Flast v. Cohen (1968)
Stone v. Powell (1976)
Elk Grove v. Newdow (2004)
Uzuegbunun v. Preczewski (2021)

Political Questions Doctrine
Luther v. Borden (1849)
Muskrat v. United States (1911) [Coleman v. Miller (1939)]
Baker v. Carr (1962)
[Powell v. McCormack (1969)]
Nixon v. United States (1993)
Rucho v. Common Cause (2019)

5 Articles IV and VI: Federalism
Eleventh Amendment and Sovereign Immunity of States
Hans v. Louisiana (1890)
Monaco v. Mississippi (1934)
Alden v. Maine (1999)
Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents (2000)
University of Alabama Board of Trustees v. Garrett (2001)
Lapides v. Board of Regents of University of Georgia (2002)
Federal Maritime Commission v. South Carolina State Ports Authority (2002)
Penneast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey (2021)

Federal Preemption
Southern Pacific Co. v. Arizona (1945)
Pennsylvania v. Nelson (1956)
Sprietsman v. Mercury Marine (2002)

Judicial Jurisdiction over States
Chisholm v. Georgia (1793) [Cohens v. Virginia (1821)]
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)
Worcester v. Georgia (1832)
Puerto Rico v. Branstad (1987)

Limits on the States
[McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)]
Leisy v. Hardin (1890)
Edwards v. California (1941)
Camps Newfound/Owatonna v. Town of Harrison (1997)
Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council (2000)
Cook v. Gralike (2001)
Smith v. Doe (2003) [Gonzales v. Raich (2005)]

Limits on Federal Regulation of States
New York v. United States (1992) [United States v. Lopez (1995)]
Printz v. United States, Mack v. United States (1997)
United States v. Morrison (2000)

Status of the States
Texas v. White (1869)
[Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)] Coyle v. Smith (1911)

Tenth Amendment and State Police Powers
United States v. F. W. Darby Lumber Co. (1941)
National League of Cities v. Usery (1976)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Wyoming (1983)
Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority (1985)
Arizona v. United States (2012)

6 Articles V and VII: Constitutional Amending Process and Ratification of the Constitution
The Amending Process
Hollingsworth v. Virginia (1798)
National Prohibition Cases (1920)
Hawke v. Smith (1920)
Dillon v. Gloss (1921)
Coleman v. Miller (1939)

7 Property Rights
Contract Clause (Article 1, Section 10)
Calder v. Bull (1798)
Fletcher v. Peck (1810)
Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)
Charles River Bridge Co. v. Warren River Bridge (1837)
Stone v. Mississippi (1880)
Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934)
United States Trust Co. v. New Jersey (1977)

Due Process (Economic) and Freedom of Contract (Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments)
Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)
Munn v. Illinois (1877)
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company (1886)
Holden v. Hardy (1898)
Lochner v. New York (1905)
Muller v. Oregon (1908)
Bunting v. Oregon (1917)
Adkins v. Children's Hospital (1923)
Nebbia v. New York (1934)
[West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish (1937)]
Lincoln Federal Labor Union No. 19129, et al., v. Northwestern Iron and Metal
Co., et al. (1949)
BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore (1996)
State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Company v. Campbell (2003)

Takings Clause (Fifth Amendment)
Village of Euclid, Ohio, v. Ambler Realty Co. (1926)
Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff (1984)
Dolan v. City of Tigard (1994)
Kelo v. City of New London (2005)
Horne v. Department of Agriculture (2015)
Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid (2021)

8 The Bill of Rights and Its Application to the States
Incorporation
Barron v. Baltimore (1833)
Gitlow v. New York (1925)
Palko v. Connecticut (1937)
United States v. Carolene Products Co. (1938)
Adamson v. California (1947)
Rochin v. California (1952)
[Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)] [Duncan v. Louisiana (1968)] [McDonald v.
Chicago (2010)]
[Ramos v. Louisiana (2020)]

9 First Amendment: Religious Rights
Establishment Clause
School-Related Cases
Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township (1947)
Zorach v. Clauson (1952)
Engel et al. v. Vitale et al. (1962)
Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)
Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
Stone v. Graham (1980)
Widmar v. Vincent (1981)
Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)
Edwards v. Aguillard (1987)
Lee v. Weisman (1992)
Zobrest v. Catalina Foothills School District (1993)
Agostini v. Felton (1997)
Santa Fe School District v. Doe (2000)
Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001)
Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002)[Elk Grove v. Newdow (2004)]
Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC (2012)

Religious Displays
[Stone v. Graham (1980)]
Lynch v. Donnelly (1984)
Van Orden v. Perry (2005)
Salazar v. Buono (2010)
American Legon v. American Humanist Association (2019)

Prayers at Governmental Meetings
Marsh v. Chambers (1983)

Free Exercise Clause
Reynolds v. United States (1879)
Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940)
Marsh v. Alabama (1946)
Welsh v. United States (1970)
Goldman v. Weinberger (1986)
Employment Division, Department of Human Resources of Oregon v.
Smith (1990)
Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah (1993)
Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1995) [City of Boerne v. Flores (1997)]
Gonzales v. Centro Espirita (2006)
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (2014)
Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer (2017)
Masterpiece Cakeshop, LTD v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo (2020)
Fulton v. City Philadelphia (2021)
[Uzuegbunun v. Preczewski (2021)]

10 First Amendment: Political Rights
Association [Implied], Assembly, and Petition
DeJonge v. Oregon (1937)
Hague v. Congress of Industrial Organizations (1939)
NAACP v. Alabama (1958)
Branti v. Finkel (1980)
Board of Directors of Rotary International v. Rotary Club of Duarte (1987)
Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston (1995)
Rumsfeld v. Forum (2006)

Press
Abrams v. United States (1919)
Near v. Minnesota ex rel. Olson (1931)
New York Times Company v. Sullivan (1964)
New York Times Company v. United States (1971)
Branzburg v. Hayes (1972)
Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart (1976)
Gannett Co. v. DePasquale (1979)
Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Commonwealth of Virginia (1980)
Chandler and Granger v. Florida (1981)
Hustler Magazine v. Falwell (1988)

Speech
Campaign-Related
Buckley v. Valeo (1976)
Elrod v. Burns (1976)
Republican Party of Minnesota v. White (2002)
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010)
Arizona Free Enterprise v. Bennett (2011)
McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (2014)
Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redictricting
Commission (2015)

Commercial Speech
Virginia State Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens
Consumer Council, Inc. (1976)
First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978)
44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island (1996)
Matal v. Tam (2017)
Iancu v. Brunetti (2019)

Miscellaneous
Elonis v. United States (2015)
Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, INC (2015)
Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (2018)

Obscenity
Burstyn v. Wilson (1952)
Roth v. United States (1957)
Miller v. California (1973)
New York v. Ferber (1982)
Reno v. American Civil Liberties Union (1997)
National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley (1998)

Subversive Speech
Schenck v. United States (1919) [Gitlow v. New York 1925)]
American Communications Association v. Douds (1950)
Dennis v. United States (1951)
Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967)
Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969)

Symbolic Speech or Speech and Conduct
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)
Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)
Texas v. Johnson (1989)
Erie v. Pap's A.M. (2000)
Virginia v. Black (2003)

Student Speech
[West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)]
[Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)]
Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986)
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988)
Mahanoy Area School Dist. v. B. L. (2021)

Time, Place, and Manner and Other Restrictions on Speech
Kovacs v. Cooper (1949)
Feiner v. New York (1951)
Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation (1978)
Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006)
United States v. Stevens (2010)
Snyder v. Phelps (2011)
Brown v. Entertainment (2011)
United States v. Alvarez (2012)
Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015)

11 Second, Third, and Fourth Amendments
The Right to Bear Arms
District of Columbia v. Heller (2008)
McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

Electronic Surveillance
Olmstead v. United States (1928)
Katz v. United States (1967)
United States v. United States District Court (1972)
United States v. Jones (2012)
Riley v. California (2014)

Other Search and Seizure
Weeks v. United States (1914)
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Terry v. Ohio (1968)
Chimel v. California (1969)
Zurcher v. the Stanford Daily (1978)
Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc. (1978)
United States v. Ross (1982)
United States v. Leon (1984)
Nix v. Williams (1984)
New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985)
California v. Ciraolo (1986)
California v. Greenwood (1988)
Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie
County v. Earls (2002)357 [Lawrence v. Texas (2003)]
Thornton v. United States (2004)
Safford Unified School District #1 v. Redding (2009)
Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of City of Burlington (2012)
Bailey v. United States (2013)
Florida v. Harris (2013)
Maryland v. King (2013)
Carpenter v. United States (2018)

12 Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendments
Double Jeopardy and Right to Confrontation
United States v. Lanza (1922)[Palko v. Connecticut (1937)]
Coy v. Iowa (1988)
Sattazahn v. Pennsylvania (2003)

Due Process
[Adkins v. Children's Hospital (1923)]
Tumey v. Ohio (1927)
Bolling v. Sharpe (1954)
O'Connor v. Donaldson (1975)
Bordenkircher v. Hayes (1978)
DeShaney v. Winnebago Social Services (1989)
Caperton v. A. T. Massey Coal Co., Inc. (2009)
FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. (2012)
United States v. Windsor (2013)

Juries
Hurtado v. California (1884)
Norris v. Alabama (1935)
Duncan v. Louisiana (1968)
Burch v. Louisiana (1979)
Duren v. Missouri (1979)
Batson v. Kentucky (1986)
Ramos v. Louisiana (2020)

Right to Counsel
Powell v. Alabama (1932)
Chambers v. Florida (1940)
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972)
Dickerson v. United States (2000)
Garza v. Idaho (2019)

Self-Incrimination and Immunity
[Adamson v. California (1947)]
Ullmann v. United States (1956)
Malloy v. Hogan (1964)
Schmerber v. California (1966)
Marchetti v. United States (1968)

Cruel and Unusual Punishment
State of Louisiana ex rel. Francis v. Resweber (1947)
Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)
Thompson v. Oklahoma (1988)
Payne v. Tennessee (1991)
Atkins v. Virginia (2002)
Ewing v. California (2003)
Baze v. Rees (2008)
Miller v. Alabama (2012)
Glossip v. Gross (2015)

13 Ninth Amendment: Right to Privacy, and Other Unenumerated Rights
Parental and Marital Rights
Meyer v. Nebraska (1923)
Pierce v. Society of Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (1925)
Buck v. Bell (1927)
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)

Right to Travel
Shapiro v. Thompson (1969)

Right to Die
Zablocki v. Redhail (1978)
Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health (1990)
Vacco v. Quill, Washington v. Glucksberg (1997)

Abortion Rights
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Harris v. McRae (1980)
Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992)
Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)
Whole Women's Health v. Hellerstedt (2016)

LGBTQ Rights
Bowers v. Hardwick (1986)
Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
[Masterpiece Cakeshop, LTD. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018)]
Bosdock v. Clayton County, Georgia (2020)
[Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021)]

14 Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Enforcement Powers
Enforcement Powers
Katzenbach v. Morgan (1966)
City of Boerne v. Flores (1997)

Equal Protection and Privileges and Immunities
African Americans and Racial Classifications
Scott v. Sandford (1857) [Slaughterhouse Cases 1873)]
The Civil Rights Cases (1883)
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938)
Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)
Sweatt v. Painter (1950)
McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950) [Bolling v. Sharpe (1954)]
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
Brown v. Board of Education II (1955)
Loving v. Virginia (1967)
Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. (1968)
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971)
Moose Lodge No. 107 v. Irvis (1972)
Milliken v. Bradley (1974)
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978)
United Steel Workers of America v. Weber, Kaiser Aluminum v. Weber, United States
v. Weber (1979)
Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena (1995)
Gratz v. Bollinger (2003)
Ricci v. DeStefano (2009)
Fisher v. University of Texas (2016)

Protection, Privileges, and Immunities
Aliens
United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)
Oyama v. California (1948)
Foley v. Connelie (1978)
Plyler v. Doe (1982)
Sessions v. Morales-Santana (2017)

Sexual Classifications
Reed v. Reed (1971)
Frontiero v. Richardson (1973)
Michael M. v. Superior Court of Sonoma County (1981)
Hishon v. King & Spalding (1984)
United States v. Virginia (1996)
[Bosdock v. Clayton County, Georgia (2020)]

Various Other Classifications
San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1973)
Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center (1985)
Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986)
Gregory v. Ashcroft (1991)
Romer v. Evans (1996)
Connecticut Department of Public Safety v. John Doe (2003)
[Lawrence v. Texas (2003)]
[Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)]

15 Voting Rights
Voting Rights
Ex parte Yarbrough (1884)
Guinn v. United States (1915)
United States v. Classic (1941)
Smith v. Allwright (1944)
Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1960)
Wesberry v. Sanders (1964)
Reynolds v. Sims (1964)
Oregon v. Mitchell (1970)
Dunn v. Blumstein (1972)
Shaw v. Reno (1993)
Bush v. Gore (2000)
Crawford v. Marion County (2008)
Shelby County v. Holder (2013)
Cooper v. Harris (2017)
[Rucho v. Common Cause (2019)]
Chialafo v. Washington (2020)

Members of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-2013

The Constitution of the United States

Glossary of Legal Terms

Alphabetical List of Cases Briefed

Chronological List of Cases by Chief Justice

Index