How Much Do You Know About These Supreme Court Cases?

In a 5-4 decision in 2015, Obergefell v. Hodges helped legalize gay marriage across all 50 states. The case determined that same-sex couples possess a fundamental right to marry guaranteed by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Love is love!

Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Loving, a black woman, were sentenced to a year in prison for getting married. The Supreme Court's decision then deemed the state's prohibition unconstitutional, which effectively legalized interracial marriage across the nation.

In 1966, Miranda v. Arizona ruled that detained persons must be informed of their right to an attorney and against self-incrimination. After Phoenix resident Ernesto Miranda was coerced into confessing to charges of rape, kidnapping and robbery and sentenced to 20 to 30 years in prison, he appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 5-4 decision, the Court ruled that the prosecution could not use Miranda's confession as evidence because they failed to inform him of his rights.

In one of the most famous cases supporting press freedom in the U.S., New York Times Co. v. Sullivan established the need for actual malice in libel cases. Thus, when a public person files a libel suit, they must prove that the publication intended actual malice. This 1964 decision helped publications report more freely on civil rights cases.

Most people recall the fiasco that unfolded in the aftermath of Florida's 2000 presidential election. The case stopped the recount that was happening in the state on the grounds that there wasn't sufficient time to complete it and that there was no suitable alternative method.

In 1857, Dred Scott, an enslaved African American man, tried to sue to obtain his freedom when his owners took him to free states and areas of the U.S. The court shot down his case 7-2. The move enraged anti-slavery proponents in the North, which in part helped spur the American Civil War.

After the state of Maryland attempted to halt operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on bank notes created outside Maryland, cashier James W. McCulloch refused to pay it. The court found Maryland's tax to be unconstitutional on the grounds that the federal government has supreme power over individual state's governing abilities.

In a decision of 7-2, the court ruled in favor of a baker from Masterpiece Cakeshop, who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple on religious grounds. Although the Colorado Court of Appeals found the bakery's actions to be discrimination based on sexual orientation, which was a violation of state law, the Supreme Court reversed the decision. The court said that the state violated the baker's rights as extended by the Free Exercise Clause.

Homer Plessy argued that his constitutional rights were violated, but the Supreme Court ruled against him. The ruling set the precedent for Jim Crow legislation and "separate-but-equal" policies to become even more rampant.

After Allan P. Bakke, a white man, was denied admission to University of California, Davis' medical school twice, he filed suit in state court. The California Supreme Court ruled that the school's minority program violated the rights of white applicants and ordered Bakke's admittance, which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld. The court condoned affirmative action for minority groups but said that specific racial quotas like UC's were not allowed.

In 1954, justices unanimously found racial segregation of public school children to be unconstitutional. Today, this case is considered to have played a key role in the civil rights movement and the abolition of "separate-but-equal" policy.

In 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon was accused of robbing a poolroom, charged, and sentenced to five years in prison, all based on one witness accusation. Gideon was forced to represent himself in court because he couldn't afford a lawyer. In prison, Gideon appealed the decision on the grounds that it violated his right to counsel. With support of a lawyer newly appointed by the court, Gideon won the case unanimously in 1963.

In 1998, after two Texas men were charged with a misdemeanor for having sexual intercourse in their apartment, they appealed the decision to the Texas Fourteenth Court of Appeals. The court found the sodomy law unconstitutional, but then overturned the judgment. The men's legal team filed a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court, which found that the Texas statute and those like it were unconstitutional.

Marbury v. Madison helped found the concept of judicial review in the U.S., which means that the courts can take down laws and regulations that conflict with the U.S. Constitution. The decision effectively ingrained the U.S. Constitution as a list of laws rather than ideals.

In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that the 14th Amendment's Due Process Clause applied to a woman's right to an abortion. The case is considered a landmark decision in abortion rights.

Roe v. Wade took place in 1973. Since then, there have been at least seven prominent Supreme Court cases involving abortion rights, including Gonzales v. Carhart and Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt.

In 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment safeguard's an individual's right to bear arms for purposes like self-defense in the home. Police officer Dick Anthony Heller brought the case forward due to Washington D.C.'s prohibition of handguns.

This 2010 Supreme Court case found that political spending by organizations like corporations, labor unions and associations to be a form of First Amendment protected speech. This decision remains very controversial.

In Shelby County v. Holder, the court struck down Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required specific states and local governments to attain federal clearance prior to the implementation of new voting laws. The court found the law to be unconstitutional because it was based on outdated data.

In this devastating case, the court sided with the government 6-3. The Supreme Court ruled that Executive Order 9066, which forced Japanese Americans into internment camps regardless of citizenship, was constitutional. Fred Korematsu, an American of Japanese descent who refused to go to the camp, is now remembered as a civil rights hero.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld what became widely known as Trump's "travel ban," which restricted travel to the U.S. by people from several majority-Muslim nations. Hawaii was among the states that challenged it on the grounds that it was anti-Muslim and therefore unconstitutional. During the case, Justice Sonia Maria Sotomayor called Trump v. Hawaii "gravely wrong" and said that it "redeploys the same dangerous logic" as Korematsu v. United States.

In 2012, National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius upheld the power of Congress to enact the majority of the Affordable are Act and other acts that required all Americans to possess health insurance by 2014. In a vote of 5-4, the court ruled that the move validated Congress' constitutional right to taxation.

Shelby County v. Holder took place in 2013. The move has been viewed as highly controversial, in part because critics say that it makes it easier for local governments to engage in voter suppression unchecked.

In 1866, the court ruled that immigrants like Yick Wo have the same right to due process as citizens under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. After Wo was arrested for running a laundry facility in a wooden building, he sued for a writ of habeas corpus.

Although Brown v. Board of Education made racial segregation illegal in schools, many all-white schools in the U.S. were slow to implement the new policy. In Brown v. Board of Education II, the court ordered the schools to hurry up. It also outlined specific rules for desegregation.

In 1950, Herman Marion Sweatt, a black man, was denied entry to the University of Texas' School of Law because the Texas State Constitution barred racial integration in schools. Sweatt's case eventually arrived at the Supreme Court, which ruled that Sweatt couldn't attend the state's all-black school on "separate but equal" grounds because the school wasn't equal; it lacked resources, professors, etc. This case played a key role in Brown v. Board of Education.

In 1989, the court ruled 5-4 that Gregory Lee "Joey" Johnson's burning of the U.S. flag constituted expressive conduct as protected by the First Amendment. This decision effectively reversed 48 state laws that banned the desecration of the American flag.

When an African-American family, the Shelleys, tried to purchase a home in St. Louis, MO, in 1945, they found that a 1911 covenant barred "people of the Negro or Mongolian Race" from living there. When a neighbor, Louis Kraemer, sued to prevent them from buying it, the court ruled in favor of the Shelleys.

In 1957, police arrested Dollree Mapp in response to evidence collected from forcing open her door based on an anonymous tip. In Mapp v. Ohio, the court found in a 6-3 ruling that the evidence was obtained in violation of her rights, through "unreasonable search and seizure": a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

In 2005, the Supreme Court found that the benefits that a community experienced from private land redevelopment qualified as valid "public use" of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. In a 5-4 ruling, the court ruled that the City of New London could redevelop a plot of abandoned land owned by two locals.

In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that First Amendment rights should extend to students in public schools. If a school wanted to impede free speech, the court ruled that the school must demonstrate that the specific speech "substantially interferes" with school operations.

Samuel Roth, who owned a literary publication business, was convicted in 1957 for selling and advertising the publication "American Aphrodite," which contained erotica and nude photographs. The court affirmed the decision and defined obscenity as what "the average person, applying contemporary community standards," would find obscene.

In a resounding 8-0 ruling against President Richard Nixon, the court ruled that the president could not use executive privileges to withhold evidence during the Watergate scandal of 1974. Of course, you know what happened next.

After the New York State Board of Regents approved a voluntary prayer for the start of each school day, several families challenged the move on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment. Jewish man Steven I. Engel alleged that the prayer violated his religious beliefs. In a 6-1 decision, the court found the prayer to be unconstitutional.

In a 7-2 decision, the court found that the state of Connecticut's prohibition of contraceptive use violated marital privacy. Though the Bill of Rights doesn't use the word "privacy" explicitly, the court said that the right is implied in other “emanations” of constitutional protections.