Notable Supreme Court Cases

In order to see the evolution of the United States Supreme Court, one must look first and foremost at its earliest and most important decision. Marbury v. Madison is probably the most well-known and most groundbreaking of all Supreme Court cases. Decided in 1803 by the first Supreme Court Chief justice, John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison was foundational because it established the concept of judicial review. By striking down the Judiciary Act of 1789, under which petitioner William Marbury had sued Secretary of State James Madison, Justice Marshall held that the United States Supreme Court has the final say on the interpretation of the United States Constitution. This idea became known as judicial review, and it is a power that the Supreme Court exercises each time that it strikes down an act of Congress or the executive. By finding acts of the other two branches of the government unconstitutional, the Supreme Court exercises its ultimate power over the interpretation of the Constitution.

The next set of foundational Supreme Court cases have to do with the power the Supreme Court, a federal body, has over the individual states. In 1816 in Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, the Supreme Court established its authority over the states. Supreme Court Justice Story in this case held that the federal Supreme Court has the power to review decisions of the state courts -- even the state Supreme Courts, when there was a question of federal law at issue.

Taking a jump from the very first foundational cases that the Supreme Court decided takes us to the Reconstruction era, or the time immediately after the end of slavery in the United States. After Congress passed the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, many questions arose as to the applicability and power of this new amendment. In the consolidated cases that became known as the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, the Supreme Court held that the provisions of the 14th Amendment's anti-discrimination could only be enforced against "state actors" and not private individuals. Some argue that this took the wind out of the sails of the 14th Amendment because it essentially condoned discrimination practiced by private individuals, holding that the federal government could not prohibit this action.

Another very important, and quite controversial, set of Supreme Court decisions center around the Fifth Amendment's due process clause. While many contend that the due process clause should be limited to actual process, the Supreme Court has gone a different way -- by interpreting the clause to also include substantive rights, important "fundamental" rights were born. In Skinner v. State of Oklahoma, decided in 1942, the Court held that procreation was a fundamental right and therefore the petitioner could not be forcibly sterilized without a compelling state interest. Subsequently, the right to an abortion was established by Roe v. Wade in 1973 (likely the most controversial of all Supreme Court decisions) using the same due process clause. The Supreme Court in these cases found that there were certain "implied" rights that the Constitution contains and that these rights are enforceable through the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.