Tag: Constitutional Law

In Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Executive Order that banned American citizens of Japanese descent from certain areas in the name of national security. The case was just one of several lawsuits c...

In Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229 (1976), the U.S. Supreme Court established that racially discriminatory laws are only unconstitutional if they have both a discriminatory purpose and a discriminatory impact. As explained by Justice Byron White...

In Talbot v. Seeman, 5 U.S. 1 (1801), the U.S. Supreme Court considered the circumstances under which salvage rights attach to a neutral vessel, captured by enemy forces, and then recaptured by the United States Navy. The Court’s decision, which ...

The Supreme Court’s new term begins on October 5, 2015. One of the first cases the justices will consider is Hurst v. Florida. The case raises several questions about the constitutionality of Florida’s capital punishment scheme, particularly the...

In Barron ex rel. Tiernan v. Mayor of Baltimore, 7 Pet. 243 (1833), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Bill of Rights placed limits on the national government and not on state governments. The Court, in an opinion written by Chief Justice John ...

In Corfield v. Coryell, 6 F. Cas. 546 (1823), Supreme Court Justice Bushrod Washington interprets the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article 4, Section 2 and articulates a list of fundamental rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Al...

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ dissent in Abrams v. United States 250 U.S. 616 (1919) is widely regarded as one of the most famous dissents in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. It sowed the seeds for the modern interpretation of freedom of...

In Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. By a vote of 6-3, the majority in Marsh v. Chambers held that the Nebraska Legislature's practice of opening each legislat...

In Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296 (1940), the U.S. Supreme Court first applied the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause to the states. A unanimous Court specifically held that arresting Jehovah’s Witnesses who were proselytizing door-to...

In United States v. Carolene Products Company, 304 U.S. 144 (1938), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the validity of an economic regulation passed by Congress pursuant to the Commerce Clause. However, the case is more famous for “Footnote Four,” ...