Unit 6 Court Cases
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831)
Ø Court defined Native American tribes as “domestic dependent nations.”
Trop v. Dulles (1958)
Ø Court ruled that stripping away a natural-born citizen’s citizenship is considered cruel and unusual punishment.
Wong Wing v. United States (1896)
Ø Court held that even aliens who are in the country illegally enjoy the protections of the 5th and 6th Amendments.
Plyler v. Doe (1982)
Ø Court declared a Texas statute that effectively excluded the children of undocumented aliens from public schools unconstitutional.
Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (2008)
Ø Court upheld and Indiana law requiring registered voters to show a government-issued photo-ID since the law was “neutral and nondiscriminatory” and closely related to the interests of preventing voter fraud.
South Carolina v. Katzenbach (1966)
Ø Court ruled that the Voting Rights Act of 1965’s restriction of literacy tests did not violate the states’ rights to implement and control elections.
Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson (1986)
Ø Court ruled that sexual harassment leading to noneconomic injury was a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Kelo v. New London (2005)
Ø Court ruled that the taking of private property to sell for private economic development qualified as “public use” and did not violate the 5th Amendment’s “takings clause.”
U.S. Term Limits v. Thorton (1995)
Ø The Court concluded that states cannot adopt qualifications for office in addition to those enumerated in the Constitution.
Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council (2000)
Ø Court ruled that a Massachusetts law restricting the authority of its agencies to purchase goods or services from companies doing business with Burma was a violation of the Supremacy Clause.
Roper v. Simmons (2004)
Ø Majority cited the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Conventions on the Rights of the Child as support for this decision.
Lawrence v. Texas (2003)
Ø Court struck down Texas statute making it a crime for two persons of the same gender to engage in certain sexual conduct. Majority cited European Court of Human Rights as support for its decision.
United States v. Amistad (1841)
Ø Court held that Africans had never been legal property of the Spanish. They were therefore awarded their freedom.
Court Case Summaries from Oyez: US Supreme Court Media (http://www.oyez.org/) & “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution” Level 3 Textbook. Page 1