Famous Supreme Court Cases

Although the three branches of the federal government are said to be equal, often the Supreme Court has the last word on an issue. This leads to famous Supreme Court cases.

Famous Supreme Court Cases

The courts can rule a law unconstitutional, which makes it void. Most such rulings are appealed to the Supreme Court, which is thus the final arbiter of what the Constitution means. Newspapers commonly print excerpts from the justices' opinions in important cases, and the Court's decisions are often the subject of public debate. This is as it should be: The decisions may settle longstanding controversies and can have social effects far beyond the immediate outcome. Two famous, related examples are Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954).

In Plessy, the issue was whether blacks could be required to ride in separate railroad cars from whites. The Court articulated a "separate but equal" doctrine as its basis for upholding the practice. The case sent a signal that the Court was interpreting the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments narrowly and that a widespread network of laws and custom treating blacks and whites differently would not be disturbed. One justice, John Marshall Harlan, dissented from the decision, arguing "the Constitution is color-blind."

Almost 60 years later the Court changed its mind. In Brown, the court held that deliberately segregated public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. Although the Court did not directly overrule its Plessy decision, Justice Harlan's view of the Constitution was vindicated. The 1954 ruling applied directly only to schools in the city of Topeka, Kansas, but the principle it articulated reached every public school in the nation. More than that, the case undermined segregation in all governmental endeavors and set the nation on a new course of treating all citizens alike.

The Brown decision caused consternation among some citizens, particularly in the South, but was eventually accepted as the law of the land. Other controversial Supreme Court decisions have not received the same degree of acceptance.

In several cases between 1962 and 1985, for example, the Court decided that requiring students to pray or listen to prayer in public schools violated the Constitution's prohibition against establishing a religion. Critics of these decisions believe that the absence of prayer in public schools has contributed to a decline in American morals; they have tried to find ways to restore prayer to the schools without violating the Constitution.

In Roe v. Wade (1973), the Court guaranteed women the right to have abortions in certain circumstances -- a decision that continues to offend those Americans who consider abortion to immoral and a form of murder. Because the Roe v. Wade decision was based on an interpretation of the Constitution, opponents have been trying to amend the Constitution to overturn it or to place more conservative political justices on the Court. The recent appointments of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito may meet this goal.

Selecting famous Supreme Court cases is a bit like picking the single best leaf off an oak tree. Every Supreme Court case defines the law of the land in the United States, so each decision is important to one segment of our society.