Landmark Supreme Court Cases

US Supreme Court Building

This is a partial list of Landmark Supreme Court cases, with brief descriptions of the ruling.

First Amendment / Freedom of Speech and of the Press

Title	Year	Summary	Ruling
New York Times v. Sullivan	1964	A chief of police sued the New York Times for libel for their reporting on civil rights protests.	9-0, Pro-New York Times
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission	2009-2010	The organization of Citizens United, a non-profit and conservative organization, wanted to release an anti-Hillary Clinton documentary around the 2008 election. The Federal Election Commission (Often abbreviated to the FEC) denied the documentary to be released.	5-4, Pro-Citizens United

Fourth Amendment / Searches and Siezures

Title	Year	Summary	Ruling
US v. Weeks	1913-1914	Without a search warrant, the police found their way into the home of Fremont Weeks, who was already in custody, and took papers that belonged to him. The police knew he was illegally sending lottery tickets through the mail. Clear violation of the Fourth Amendment.	Unanimous, Pro-Weeks
New Jersey v. TLO	1984-1985	T.L.O. , An unknown 14-year-old female freshman, was searched by the school on suspicion that she was smoking cigarettes. The school found the suspected cigarettes and marijuana. Although she was in the wrong, she argued that her Fourth Amendment right had been broken and violated.	6-3, Pro-School (New Jersey)
Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents	1970-1971	6 Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics fought their way into the home of Mr. Webster Bivens in 1965 with no warrant. Bivens then tried to sue the agents for humiliation and mental suffering.	6-3, Pro-Bivens

Abortion

Title	Year	Summary	Ruling
Roe v. Wade	1971-1973	Texas resident Norma McCorvey (Going under the pseudonym Jane Roe) attempted to get an abortion, only to find that abortion is illegal in Texas (Unless the woman's life is in danger). The outcome affected 46 states. Ironically, McCorvey became a Pro-Life activist and a Roman Catholic. She died February 18, 2017 at 69.	7-2, Pro-Roe and Abortion

• Doe v. Bolton
• Rust v. Sullivan
• Planned Parenthood v. Casey
• Harris v. McRae
• Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt
• Stenberg v. Carhart
• Gonzales v. Carhart

Slavery

Title	Year	Summary	Ruling
Dred Scott v. Sanford	1856-1857

Federalism

• McCulloch v. Maryland
• J. W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v. United States, The Separation of Powers can be side-stepped if Congress provides an "intelligible principle" to guide the executive branch.
• Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
• Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo

Segregation

• Plessy v. Ferguson
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Cooper v. Aaron, not only a court case regarding Segregation, but also establishes Judicial Supremacy.

Right to an attorney

• Miranda v. Arizona

Private Property

• Kelo v. City of New London
• Mazer v. Stein

Homosexual Agenda

• Obergefell v. Hodges
• Lawrence v. Texas
• Baker v. Nelson
• Bowers v. Hardwick
• Bostock v. Clayton County
• Boy Scouts v. Dale
• Romer v. Evans
• United States v. Windsor

Second Amendment

• District of Columbia v. Heller

Religion

• Engel v. Vitale
• Lemon v. Kurtzman