 Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978) |
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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.
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| Roe v. Wade (1973) |
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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.
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| Seminole Tribe of Florida v. Florida (1996) |
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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.
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| Shelby County v. Holder (2013) |
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This landmark Supreme Court decision overturned the federal pre-clearance section the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which required jurisdictions to seek approval from the Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court for D.C., before making changes to their voting laws. This decision limited the federal government's ability to protect voting rights for all citizens and has since allowed policies such as voter ID laws and the closing polling locations to limit voting rights for certain groups.
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| Stenberg v. Carhart (2000) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court found that a Nebraska state ban on partial-birth abortion was unconstitutional, as it failed to include a health exception and imposed an "undue burden" on people seeking abortions.
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| Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard (2023) |
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This Supreme Court case considered whether Harvard's admissions process violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The Court decided that the race-based admissions system did not meet the strict scrutiny required to allow a race-based system, and held as unconstitutional the consideration of an applicant’s race as a factor in making an admissions decision that benefits diversity.
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| Terry v. Ohio (1968) |
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Terry v. Ohio is the landmark Supreme Court case that established the basis for stop and frisk policies. These policies disproportionately affect Black people and lead to the disproportionate incarceration of Black Americans.
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| Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969) |
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The Supreme Court's decision in this case recognized the First Amendment right to freedom of speech or expression in U.S. public schools.
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| Trump v. Hawaii (2018) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that the travel ban instituted by President Trump's Executive Order 13780 was within presidential power granted by Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
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| Trump v. United States (2024) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that a president "may not be prosecuted
for exercising his core constitutional powers" and is entitled to "a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts."
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| United States v. Brignoni-Ponce (1975) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that it was a violation of the Fourth Amendment for law enforcement to stop a vehicle solely on the basis of the driver appearing to be of Mexican descent. Appearance of ethnicity did not constitute reasonable suspicion for the stopping and interrogation of a vehicle and its passengers.
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| United States v. Joseph (1876) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Pueblo people were not Indians within the meaning of the Indian Nonintercourse Act in part because they had received full legal title to their land from the Spanish.
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| United States v. Kagama (1886) |
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This Supreme Court case asserted the federal government's role in criminal jurisdiction on tribal lands. The Court ruled that the Indian Major Crimes act was constitutional, therefore federal courts had jurisdiction to indict Native defendants for murder.
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| United States v. Rogers (1846) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that a white man who claimed citizenship of the Cherokee Nation through domicile and marriage was not an "Indian" within the meaning of the law.
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| United States v. Sandoval (1913) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Pueblo people were Indians, repudiating the earlier United States v. Joseph decision which had held that they were not. The title to Pueblo lands was now seen as held by tribes instead of in fee simple, meaning that Congressional approval was needed in order to make land sales. This undermined the legitimacy of non-Indian land titles across New Mexico.
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| United States v. The Amistad (1841) |
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This freedom suit originated after 53 Africans revolted and took control of the Spanish slave ship that intended to enslave them in Cuba. The ship was eventually seized by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Long Island and the Africans were taken into custody and charged with mutiny and murder. After a series of court appearances, the Supreme Court ruled that the Africans were "free negroes" who had been "unlawfully kidnapped, and forcibly and wrongfully carried on board" the Amistad. They were ordered to be released. After obtaining their freedom, missionary groups helped the surviving Africans return to Sierra Leone.
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| United States v. Thind (1923) |
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The Supreme Court found in U.S. v. Thind that Indian immigrants were not eligible for naturalization, based on a contested category of whiteness. Contradicting their 1922 ruling in Ozawa naming caucasian identity as a requirement for naturalization, as a South Asian immigrant, Thind was deemed ineligible for citizenship because, despite being racially caucasian, he did not appear white.
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| United States v. Windsor (2013) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court overturned the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. It examined the argument of a same-sex couple who were married in Canada and wanted the tax benefits of marriage after one partner died. While same-sex marriage was recognized by the State of New York, the Defense of Marriage Act prevented federal recognition of their marriage.
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| United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) |
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In United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court solidified the principle of birthright citizenship, affirming that anyone born in the U.S., regardless of their parents' citizenship, is a U.S. citizen.
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| Worcester v. Georgia (1832) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee people had sovereign powers as a nation. The case arose after a Protestant missionary was convicted of residing among the Cherokee Nation in Gwinnett County, Georgia, without a license from the state. The Supreme Court vacated Worcester's conviction, stating that individual states did not have authority over Native American affairs
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| Yarborough v. Alvarado (2004) |
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In this case, the Supreme Court overturned a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that stated that youth and inexperience with law enforcement should be accounted for when evaluating custody. In the majority opinion, the Supreme Court held that previous rulings had rejected reliance on factors such as age and inexperience in custody analysis.
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| Yasui v. United States (1943) |
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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. Minoru Yasui was convicted of violating the curfew. This was a companion case to Hirabayashi v. United States, decided on the same day.
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