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Dred Scott v. Sanford
A slave in Missouri, sued for his freedom saying that he had lived for a time in a "free" territory. The Court ruled against him, saying that under the Constitution, he was his master's property. At the same time, the Court also ruled that the Missouri Compromise (1821) -- under which Missouri was admitted to the union as a slave state. -
Civil Rights Cases
The Supreme Court held that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was not constitutional under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The Court established the state-action doctrine, thereby allowing segregation and discrimination by private actors. -
Yick Wo v. Hopkins
The Court ruled for the first time that a facially neutral law applied in a racially discriminatory manner violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Court upheld a Louisiana law requiring restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and other public places to serve African Americans in separate, but ostensibly equal, accommodations. -
Meyer v. Nebraska
The Court struck down a state ban on foreign language instruction in private schools. The law had prohibited all pre-eighth grade foreign language instruction, but the Court said such a ban violated the Fourteenth Amendment. -
Brown v. Board II
The Supreme Court held that school systems must abolish their racially dual systems, but could do so "with all deliberate speed." -
Loving v. Virginia
The Court struck down state laws which prohibited inter-racial marriage and held that marriage was a fundamental right. -
General Electric Co. v. Gilbert
The Court ruled that firing or otherwise penalizing pregnant workers was not an unlawful form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This decision was legislatively overturned by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. -
Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.
Supreme Court upheld the denial of a zoning permit for construction of multi-family housing, which had the practical effect of excluding minority property owners. The Court required proof of intentional discrimination to establish a Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection violation. -
Batson v. Kentucky
Court held that a prosecutor’s use of a preemptory challenge to dismiss a juror, based solely on the juror’s race, is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. -
United States v Windsor
The Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as applying only to heterosexual couples for purposes of federal law, as a violation of the Fifth Amendment. -
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc
The Supreme Court held that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 allows a closely held corporation to deny its employees contraceptive health care coverage of based on the employer’s religious objections.
