Court Cases (1)

Court Cases 1803 Marbury v. Madison Case: -- William Marbury (a midnight judge) sued for his commission -- Marshall ruled Marbury's argument was unconstitutional Significance: -- Established judicial review -- Established Supreme Court's power to rule over constituionality of legislations 1810 Fletcher v. Peck Case: -- GA legislature grants huge tracts of land to private speculators for bribes -- They then tried to revoke the transaction -- Marshall ruled the grant was a contract, and protected under the Constitution Significance: -- Established the validity and binding of contracts

1819 Dartmouth College v. Woodward Case: -- NH sought to change the Dartmouth College charter, granted by King George III in -- Dartmouth appealed with support of Daniel Webster -- Marshall ruled the charter was a contract and could not be changed w/o consent Significance: -- Reinforced the binding of contracts and Constitutional protection 1819 McCulloch v. Maryland Case: -- MD attempted to destroy a branch of the Bank of the US by taxing its notes -- Marshall ruled the bank constitutional and denied the right to tax the bank Significance: -- Established loose construction of the Constitution 1824 Gibbons v. Odgen Case: -- NY attempted to grant monopoly of "waterborne commerce" between NY and NJ -- Marshall ruled against the attempt Significance: -- Established Congress as the controller of interstate commerce

1842 Commonwealth v. Hunt (Supreme Court of MA) Significance:

-- Established labor unions were not illegal conspiracies (provided methods were "honorable and peaceful") -- Did not legalize strikes, but took a significant stride at the time

1856 Dred Scott v. Sanford Case: -- Dred Scott (slave)(IL/WI territory)(5 years) sued for his freedom -- Based argument on long residence on free soil -- Ruled Scott was a slave (property) and not a citizen, making his suit invalid -- Taney ruled slaves were property, and thus could legally be taken into any territo Significance: -- Established slaves officially as property -- Ruled (MO) Compromise of 1820 had been unconstitutional -- Ruled Congress had no power to ban slavery from any territory

1886 Wabash Case Case: -- Ruled individual states had no power to regulate interstate commerce Significance: -- Reinforced Marshall's ruling that only Congress could regulate interstate commerc

1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Case: -- Ruled "separate, but equal" facilities were constitutional under the "equal protecti clause under the 14th Amendment Significance: -- Validated the South's segregationist social order

er the Constitution

ed by King George III in 1769 changed w/o consent

y taxing its notes to tax the bank

e" between NY and NJ

ng his suit invalid e taken into any territory

commerce

ate interstate commerce

nder the "equal protection"