Famous Supreme
Court Cases
”May it please the court…”
Marbury v. Madison (1803)
Marbury and several
others were appointed
to government posts
created by Congress
in the last days of
John Adams's
presidency, but these
last-minute
appointments were
never fully finalized
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
In 1818, the state of
Maryland passed
legislation to impose
taxes on the bank
James W. McCulloch,
the cashier of the
Baltimore branch of
the bank, refused to
pay the tax
Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
Among the people who
had permission to do
business under this
monopoly was Aaron
Ogden
Thomas Gibbons,
another steamship
trader, wanted to use
the New York
waterways for his
business, too
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
After the Missouri
Supreme Court
overruled that
decision, Scott’s case
came before the
highest court in early
1856
After arguing for a full
year, the court ruled
that Scott’s sojourn
had not earned him
his freedom
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
In 1892, Homer
Adolph Plessy--who
was seven-eighths
Caucasian--took a seat
in a "whites only" car
of a Louisiana train
He refused to move to
the car reserved for
blacks and was
arrested
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Brown's daughter
Linda, a third grader,
had to walk six blocks
to her school bus stop
to ride to Monroe
Elementary, her
segregated black
school one mile away,
while Sumner
Elementary, a white
school, was seven
blocks from her house
Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
Police officers in a
Cleveland, Ohio suburb
received information
that a suspect in a
bombing case, as well
as some illegal betting
equipment, might be
found in the home of
Dollree Mapp
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
The Board of
Regents for the
State of New York,
headed by William
J. Vitale, authorized
a short, voluntary
prayer for recitation
at the start of each
school day
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
Clarence Gideon
was charged in a
Florida state court
with a felony for
breaking and
entering
He lacked funds and
was unable to hire a
lawyer to prepare
his defense
New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)
L. B. Sullivan, the
Montgomery city
commissioner, filed a
libel action against the
newspaper, claiming
that the allegations
against the
Montgomery police
defamed him
personally
Griswold v. Connecticut (1965)
Griswold and her
colleague were
convicted under a
Connecticut law which
criminalized the
provision of
counseling, and other
medical treatment, to
married persons for
purposes of preventing
conception
Miranda v. Arizona (1969)
In March 1963,
Ernesto Arturo
Miranda was
arrested for
robbery
He later confessed
to raping an 18
year old woman
two days previously
Roe v. Wade (1973)
Roe (Norma
McCorvey), a Texas
resident, sought to
terminate her
pregnancy by abortion
Texas law prohibited
abortions except to
save the pregnant
woman's life
Henry Wade was the
district attorney for
Dallas Count
University of California v. Bakke
(1978)
Allan Bakke, a thirty-
five-year-old white
man, had twice
applied for admission
to the University of
California Medical
School at Davis
The school reserved
sixteen places in each
entering class of one
hundred for "qualified"
minorities
Daubert v. Merrill Dow
Pharmaceuticals (1993)
Two boys, Jason
Daubert and Eric
Schuller, were born
with serious defects
after their mothers
took the anti-
nausea drug
Bendectin while
pregnant
District of Columbia v. Heller
(2008)
The case is about a
handgun that Dick
Heller wanted to keep
in his home in
Washington, D.C
The city has banned
the registration, and
thus the possession, of
all privately owned
handguns