Landmark Supreme Court cases

** page under construction **

Short list of Landmark Supreme Court cases

• cases as generally recommended for minimual study of the AP Gov exam

Case	Date	Court	Big Ideas/ Court Doctrine	Constitutional Issues	Constitutional Issues	Issues / Background / Description / Opinion	Dissent (if relevant)	Related Cases
Baker v. Carr	1961	Warren	"One person one vote" standard Political Question doctrine	equal protection (14th amendment)	judicial review	- held that the state of Tennessee had ignored a 1901 state law that required redistricting to be adjusted according to census results; the state had not drawn new districts since 1901, resulting in overrepresentation of rural over urban citizens - the court held that challenges to state districting (gerrymandering) issues were not merely "political questions" and thus subject to Court review - the Court was split on the case and the case had to be re-argued	- Justice Brennan argued that redistricting is a political question and should be left up to the states - Justice Frankfurter held that the decision was "judicial overreach"	Reynolds v. Sims (1964) Shaw v. Reno , 1993)
Marbury v. Madison	1803	Marshall	Judicial supremacy	- federalism - constitutional interpretation by the Court	affirmed concept of "legal remedy"
- settled a dispute between outgoing Adams and incoming Jefferson administrations over Adams' "midnight appointments", including one to Marbury - ruled that the Judiciary Act of 1793 is illegal under the constitution, thus establishing "judicial review" - created the power of the Courts to invalidate statutory laws based upon their "constitutionality" - Marbury lost his case, as the Court ruled that any legal remedy due to him was from an invalid law
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