#Supreme Court

25 entries

People (7)

Chief Justice whose Court transformed American civil rights, 1953–1969

Chief Justice who forged the Supreme Court into a coequal branch of government

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

The Great Dissenter — Supreme Court Justice and philosopher of American law, 1902–1932

Chief Justice who wrote the Dred Scott decision — the worst ruling in the Court's history

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Supreme Court Justice and architect of American gender equality law, 1993–2020

Sandra Day O'Connor

First woman to serve on the Supreme Court, 1981–2006

Thurgood Marshall

The lawyer who dismantled segregation in court and became the first Black Supreme Court Justice

Places (2)

Cherokee Nation

The sovereign nation reconstituted in Indian Territory after the Trail of Tears

The Black Hills

The mountains the Supreme Court said were taken illegally — and that the Lakota have refused to sell back

Events (1)

Election of 2000

Bush v. Gore and the 36-day Florida recount that decided the presidency

Documents (14)

Brown v. Board of Education

The 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared school segregation unconstitutional

Dred Scott v. Sandford

The 1857 Supreme Court ruling that declared Black Americans had no constitutional rights

Gibbons v. Ogden

The 1824 ruling that gave Congress the power to regulate the national economy

Gideon v. Wainwright

The unanimous 1963 ruling that guaranteed the right to counsel for every criminal defendant

Korematsu v. United States

The 1944 ruling that upheld Japanese American internment — and was later repudiated

Loving v. Virginia

The 1967 ruling that struck down bans on interracial marriage

Marbury v. Madison

The 1803 ruling that established the Supreme Court's power to strike down laws

McCulloch v. Maryland

The 1819 ruling that established the doctrine of implied federal powers

Miranda v. Arizona

The 1966 ruling that gave every suspect the right to silence

Obergefell v. Hodges

The 2015 Supreme Court decision that established the constitutional right to same-sex marriage

Plessy v. Ferguson

The 1896 Supreme Court ruling that made "separate but equal" the law of the land

The 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion a constitutional right — and its 2022 reversal

The Second Amendment

Twenty-seven words at the center of America's gun debate

United States v. Nixon

The unanimous 1974 ruling that forced the White House tapes and ended a presidency

Concepts (1)

Judicial Review

The power of courts to strike down laws that violate the Constitution

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