APDC – General Review – The Supreme Court/Supreme Court Cases/Famous Trials

German-American newspaper publisher and printer. In the mid 18th century he was accused, but ultimately acquitted, of seditious libel in a court case brought by the colonial governor of New York. His 1735 acquittal established the legal precedent for *freedom of the press*.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 until 1835. He was a Federalist originally installed on the bench by John Adams. His decisions defined and strengthened the powers of the Judicial Branch and asserted the power of Judicial Review over federal legislation. His significant cases include Marbury v. Madison, Fletcher v. Peck, Dartmouth College v. Woodward, McCulloch v. Maryland, Gibbons v. Ogden, Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, and Worcester v. Georgia.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who succeeded John Marshall after Marshall's death.

1803 - Summary: Judicial Review of laws enacted by the United States Congress. (Marshall)

An 1803 Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that he could not issue a Writ of Mandamus in William Marbury's suit on the grounds that a portion of the Judicial Act of 1789 was unconstitutional. As a result of this decision, the Supreme Court assumed the power of Judicial Review, despite it not being a power granted to it in the Constitution. The Strict Constructionist President Thomas Jefferson did not challenge this assumption of power because his side essentially \"won\" the case when Marbury was not granted his seat on the federal court.

1810 - Summary: Property Rights. (Marshall)

An 1810 Marshall Court decision which was the first time that a state law was voided on the grounds that it violated a principle of the United States Constitution. The Georgia legislature issued land grants in a corrupt deal. A later legislative session tried to repeal those land grants because of the corruption. The Supreme Court reaffirmed the sanctity of legal contracts and decided that the original contract was valid, regardless of the corruption.

1819 - Summary: The use of Implied Powers. (Marshall)

An 1819 Marshall Court decision in which the Supreme Court determined that no state can control an agency of the federal government. To protect its own state banks, Maryland tried to levy a tax on a local branch of the Bank of the United States. The Supreme Court determined that actions such as that violated Congress's Implied Powers. The Supreme Court used Judicial review and ruled that the action by the state was unconstitutional.

1819 - Summary: The Sanctity of Contracts. (Marshall)

An 1819 Marshall Court decision that severely limited the power of state governments to control corporations, which were an emerging form of business at this time. The New Hampshire legislature tried to change Dartmouth from a private to a public institution by having its charter revoked. The Supreme Court reaffirmed the sanctity of contracts and ruled that the charter issued during the colonial days still was a legal contract and could not be changed without the consent of both parties.

1821 - Summary: Judicial Review of state decisions. (Marshall)

An 1821 Marshall Court decision which asserted the right of the Supreme Court to review the decision of state supreme courts. , The Cohens were a Virginia family accused of selling lottery tickets illegally. The Virginia Supreme Court found the Cohens guilty, so they appealed to the Supreme Court in 1821. Virginia won in having the Cohens convicted. Virginia lost in that Judge Marshal made it so that the federal Supreme Court had the right to review any decision involving powers of the federal government. This was a major blow on states' rights.

1823 - Summary: Ability of Native Americans to own land. (Marshall)

An 1823 Supreme Court case that came about as a result of conflicting Native American land sales. Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that Native American tribes had rights to tribal lands that preceded all other American law. However, Marshall also ruled that only the federal government could take land from the tribes.

1824 - Summary: Congressional power to regulate interstate commerce. (Marshall)

An 1824 Supreme Court Case that came about as a result of conflicting licenses for steam boat businesses on the Hudson River. Chief Justice John Marshall's ruling in this case clarified the Commerce Clause in the Constitution and affirmed Congressional power over interstate commerce.

1831 - Summary: Treatment of Native American nations as foreign states. (Marshall)

An 1831 Supreme Court ruling that came about as a result of Georgia's increasing attempts to exert authority over the Cherokee tribe residing within their state boundaries. Chief Justice John Marshall did not hear the case on the grounds that \"the conditions of the Indians in relation to the United States is perhaps unlike that of any two people in existence,\" and \"their relation to the United States resembles that of a ward to his guardian. . .(they were a) domestic dependent nation.\" This decision established a \"trust relationship\" with the tribes directly under federal authority.

1832 - Summary: Native American Removal. (Marshall)

An 1832 Supreme Court ruling that came about as a result of Georgia's increasing attempts to exert authority over the Cherokee tribe residing within their state boundaries. Chief Justice John Marshall's ruling established tribal autonomy within their boundaries, i.e. the tribes were \"distinct political communities, having territorial boundaries within which their authority is exclusive.\" President Jackson largely ignored this ruling and began the systematic removal of Native American tribes from their ancestral lands.

1837 - Summary: Contract Clause of the Constitution. (Taney)

An 1837 Supreme Court case in which Chief Justice Taney suggested that a state could cancel grant money if the grant ceased to be in the best interests of the community. This case served as a reversal of prior Supreme Court precedent, by demonstrating that a contract could be broken to benefit the general welfare of the people.

1841 - Summary:Status of rebellious slaves that made their way to the United States while being taken from Africa to the Caribbean.

An 1841 Supreme Court case which came as a result of the arrival of the ship called the Amistad which was illegally transporting African slaves from Africa to the Caribbean in violation of international agreements ending the slave trade. Former President John Q. Adams represented the slaves and successfully argued for their freedom on the grounds that they had never been property and were illegally kidnapped from their homes. This victory was a major boost for the Abolitionist movement.

1842 - Summary: Constitutionality of State laws which went against Federal fugitive slave legislation.

An 1842 Supreme Court cases in which Chief Justice Taney heard arguments from state officials in Pennsylvania and private slave hunters which operated for profit by seeking and returning runaway slaves. Ultimately the Supreme Court ruled that Pennsylvania's state laws which opposed cooperating with slave hunters to be unconstitutional. However, they also opened the door for future Personal Freedom laws. The failure of the court the settle differences of opinion on fugitive slave laws forced a strict slave law to be included in the Compromise of 1850.

William Marbury (one of Adams' midnight appointments), sued Secretary of State Madison to force delivery of his commission as a justice of the peace in the federal district; Marshall would not rule on it, because he said the law that gave the Supreme Court power to rule over such matter was unconstitutional established the policy of judicial review over federal legislation Precedent of the Supreme Court's power to rule on the constitutionality of federal laws

Georgia legislature issued extensive land grants to Yazoo Land Company; afterwards, it was considered corrupt, so there was a legislative session that repealed the action Court ruled that the original contract was valid and could not be broken