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Supreme Court Case

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Title Description Class
Hawaii v. Mankichi (1903) Hawaii v. Mankichi is one of a series of cases decided by the Supreme Court addressing the status of U.S. territories known as the Insular Cases. This case considered the extent to which the Constitution should apply to Hawaii and how the new territory's previous legal codes could be folded into the laws of the Territory of Hawaii.
Hernandez v. Texas (1954) Hernandez v. Texas showed racial discrimination in all-white juries, reflected in Juan Crow segragation.
Hirabayashi v. United States (1943) In this case, the Supreme Court held that curfews against minority groups were constitutional at a time of war against the country that group's ancestors originated from. After the Executive Order 9066 was issued in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were subject to curfews and other restrictions in addition to being removed to internment camps. Gordon Hirabayashi was convicted of violating the curfew. This was a companion case to Yasui v. United States, decided on the same day.
Hoyt v. Florida (1961) In this case, the Supreme Court considered whether laws like that of Florida, which allowed women to be exempt from serving on juries unless they specifically registered to do so, were constitutional. Gwendolyn Hoyt alleged that because there were no women on her jury, she was not given a fair trial. The Court decided that because women were given an opportunity to register to be considered for jury duty, the law was constitutional.
Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967) In the Supreme Court case of Keyishian v. Board of Regents, the Court considered whether a New York law limiting the public employment of "subversive persons" was a violation of the First Amendment. The Court in this case ruled that First Amendment restrictions must be narrow.
Korematsu v. United States (1944) In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that war-time exclusion against Japanese-Americans was valid.
Lawrence v. Texas (2003) This Supreme Court case struck down a Texas law that criminalized sexual relations between people of the same sex. Lawrence v. Texas ruled that all sexual relations between consenting adults is legal.
Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock (1903) After Congress attempted to pass legislation that violated the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867, Kiowa chief Lone Wolf filed a complaint on behalf of the tribes who had signed the treaty. The Supreme Court sided with Congress and upheld the violation of the treaty.
Loving v. Virginia (1967) In this landmark civil rights case, the Supreme Court ruled that laws banning interracial marriage were unconstitutional for violating the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Marbury v. Madison (1803) This landmark Supreme Court decision established the principle of judicial review, giving the courts the right to determine the constitutionality of the actions of the other two branches of government.
McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Commission (1973) In McClanahan v. Arizona State Tax Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that the state did not have the right to tax Native Americans living and earning income on tribal land.
McGirt v. Oklahoma (2020) In McGirt v. Oklahoma, the Supreme Court found that the lands in eastern Oklahoma were under the legal jurisdiction of the tribal nations. This decision reestablished tribal sovereignty for the Five Tribes, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, and Seminole.
Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones (1973) In Mescalero Apache Tribe v. Jones, the Supreme Court ruled that the state could tax tribal business that is off-reservation, but not business that took place on the reservation.
Miranda v. Arizona (1966) In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that criminal suspects must be advised of their constitutional rights before being interrogated. Now known as Miranda Rights, a Miranda Warning is given to suspects in police custody advising them informing them of their Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination and their Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
Nixon v. Fitzgerald (1982) In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that a president "is entitled to absolute immunity from damages liability predicated on his official acts."
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) In the landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court found that same-sex marriage was protected under the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978) In Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, the court ruled that Native American tribes had no jurisdiction over non-Indians. The ruling was later overturned by the Indian Civil Rights Act and the ruling in Duro v. Reina that stated tribes had criminal jurisdiction over nonmember Indians. The case of Dollar General v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians also held that tribes had jurisdiction over non-Indians.
Ozawa v. United States (1922) The Supreme Court found in Ozawa v. United States that Japanese immigrants were not eligible for naturalization, based on a contested category of whiteness. The case considered the meaning of "free white persons" from the 1906 Naturalization Act and whether factors like assimilability should be considered. While the court determined in Ozawa that the words "white person" were meant to indicate a person of the "caucasian race," the decision in U.S. v. Thind just months later stated that the word "caucasian" was meant to refer to the "common understanding" of race and not a scientific one.
Papachristou et al. v. City of Jacksonville (1972) In this case, the Supreme Court found that state and municipal vagrancy codes were too vague, resulting in their overturning.
Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) In the Supreme Court case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the ruling in Roe v. Wade was upheld, but changed the scrutiny standard from "strict scrutiny" to an "undue burden" standard.
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court found that racial discrimination did not violate constitutional equal protection. This case established the principle of "separate but equal" which was overturned in 1965 by the decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842) The case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania evaluated the legality of Pennsylvania's personal liberty laws. Margaret Morgan moved from Maryland to Pennsylvania after being granted her freedom. When relatives of her previous enslaver wanted to reclaim her, they sent Edward Prigg to Pennsylvania to find her. Pennsylvania courts found Prigg guilty of violating the state's personal liberty laws, but the Supreme Court ruled that the federal fugitive slave laws overrule state laws.
Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) Overturned by the Harvard and UNC v. Students for Fair Admissions decision, the Supreme Court in University of California v. Bakke ruled that college admissions were allowed to take race into account.
Roe v. Wade (1973) Roe v. Wade is the landmark Supreme Court decision that extended the right to privacy to the ability for women to obtain abortion care. The decision was overturned in the 2022 decision of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, returning legislation on abortion care to the states.
Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida (1996) In the Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida, the Supreme Court considered whether the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act violated the state of Florida's state sovereignty as guaranteed by the Eleventh Amendment.